Shattered
by Real.Smile
Summary: Just when you think it's okay to relax, life hits you with something earth shattering. Like most earth shattering events, this didn't just affect one person. It affects a family. They say everything happens for a reason. Well what was the reason behind this? Why do bad things happen to good people? Sequel to Feel Again.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hey there! Welcome to my story, _Shattered._ This the sequel to my previous story, _Feel Again_. The two stories are very much so intertwined so make sure to give _Feel Again_ a read before you start this one. I welcome any new readers with open arms and I welcome back my readers from the first story. I promise this one will be even better than the first. Feel free to review and tell me what you think. I'm always excited to read the reviews. It's always fun for me to see what you all think will happen and sometimes I like it so much that I make it happen. SO enjoy the first chapter of _Shattered!_

 _The Outsiders._

* * *

"Jacquelyn!"

That voice belonged to the blond beauty hanging on Sodapop Curtis' arm. Her baby blue eyes were trying to focus in on the girl that she had just called. Her slender arm was looped through Soda's as they stood in the front yard of the Curtis' house.

The girl hat had been called turned her attention to the blond who called her. Her hazel eyes focused in on the girl and one of her eyebrows arched. However, in the darkness she wasn't sure if she could see the action of her arching an eyebrow or not. "Gina?" she questioned as she leaned against the railing of the porch.

"Jacquelyn," the blond called again as she pulled her arm from Soda's and started towards the porch. Gina folded her arms on the top of the railing and smiled.

Jacquelyn placed the cup she was holding in her hand on the railing and tossed the blond in front of her a confused look. "Gina." When Gina didn't say anything, Jacquelyn laughed. "You're drunk, aren't you?" the hazel eyed girl questioned as she took the cup from the blond in front of her and then handed her the cup she'd placed on the railing. "Drink this."

"Is it beer?" Gina questioned with a laugh.

"No, it's water," Jacquelyn said. Gina pulled a face. "Drink it."

Gina took the cup and turned over her shoulder to go back towards Soda. The blond ducked under his arm and tucked her body against his. Her small, curvy frame fit perfectly against his tall, lean frame. His arm settled on the swell of her hip while the other hand, the one with the bottle of beer, gestured upwards towards the night sky.

Jacquelyn took the cup that she'd taken from Gina and brought it to her lips.

"I thought you weren't drinking anymore," a voice said as a pair of lips pressed to the side of her neck. A larger hand wrapped around hers and placed the cup back on the railing. A pair of strong arms settled on either side of her body. Without looking or even saying anything, she settled back into the chest of the person behind her as a chin settled on her shoulder.

"I took this from Gina," Jacquelyn said lightly as she showed him the red lipstick stain on the rim of the cup. "But I was gonna sip off of it. Why let good wine go to waste?"

The boys had requested, more like demanded, beer for tonight. They had all but handed Jacquelyn the money to buy beer, since she was going to the store, and shoved her out of the door. The cashier had looked at her a little funny as she placed three twelve-packs of beer on the counter for her to purchase. Of course, whenever Jacquelyn bought beer the cashier would look at her strangely. She didn't really look like the type to drink beer, and she wasn't. She had always been more of a wine drinker, a product of the lessons from her mother's rich upbringing. She liked wine and the boys always made fun of her about it, calling it a sissy drink. In the grand scheme of things, it was a sissy drink.

"Darry!"

The person behind her shifted slightly, taking his chin from her shoulder and turning his gaze towards the driveway. Jacquelyn took a glance in the direction of the caller as well. It was a slightly buzzed Ponyboy. He was walking towards them from Two-Bit's blue Chevrolet. Steve had finally gotten so tired of it stalling that he just fixed it. Two-bit followed Ponyboy's lead, he seemed to be concentrating very hard on the whole putting one foot in front of the other thing and draped his arm around Ponyboy's shoulder for balance.

"You havin' fun, Pone?" Sodapop questioned, pulling his attention from Gina to his little brother.

"Where ya' coming from, Two?" Jacquelyn asked as she grabbed the collar of his shirt as he walked by.

Two-Bit stumbled much more than he should have. "Round the corner on Winn," he said waving his hand to dismiss the topic. "I didn't drive, Pony did."

"That's a good way to lose your license, Ponyboy," Darry told him. His voice starting to take the tone it held when he was lecturing Ponyboy on something or other.

"We just went to get more beer," Two-Bit said as he reached back to start attempting to pull Jacquelyn's hand from his shirt.

"More beer?" Jacquelyn questioned with an arched eyebrow. "I bought like three cases!"

There was a loud pop from somewhere down the road, in the direction on the park. Jacquelyn looked down at the watch on Darry's wrist, _11:45._ She then turned her eyes upwards just to in time to see a few red sparks fading in the night sky. Two-bit took this distraction and pulled free from the older girl's grasp and made his way across the yard to where Steve and Evie were sitting.

Jacquelyn pulled the flannel shirt she had on closer to her body as a cool winter breeze blew by. The wind caught in her dark brown hair tousling it as it went by. The exposed skin of her face started to chill and the skin of her cheeks began to turn pink.

"Here," Darry said from behind her as he draped his jacket over her shoulders, effectively stopping the breeze from chilling her arms. He then moved to stand beside her and lean on the railing. "Told you to wear a jacket."

"Sorry, Dad," Jacquelyn teased as she looked over at him.

The brunette pushed her arms through the sleeves of the too big jacket and pulled it up to her ears. Out of the corner of his eye, Darry watched her. The skin on her cheeks and nose were now a bright pink. The freckles were starting to stand out against her skin. She was biting on the corner of her pink lips. Her long dark brown hair was still fluttering in the breeze. After a moment, she glanced over at him with her hazel eyes and smiled, flashing him her perfect white teeth, before looking back across the yard. He then briefly glanced at the ring on her left ring finger. Even in the dark he could see the gem.

It had been maybe two months since he had taken her to the football field at the University of Tulsa and asked her to marry him. About two months and he still couldn't believe that she had said yes; that she had agreed to be stuck with him for the rest of her life. It had been about two months and every time he saw the ring on her finger he felt his heart speed up a little. It had also been about two months or so and he still wasn't used to the word fiancée. He'd had had to introduce her to one of his co-workers when they'd run into him at the store and it had been very awkward. Only because he hadn't known what to call her. He had never introduced her to anyone before. In the end, Jacquelyn had ended up introducing herself as his fiancée.

"Ross."

"Randle," the brunette replied. "What's up?"

"Hand me a beer?" he questioned as he gestured to the cooler behind her.

"Evie want anything?" she questioned as she leaned away from the railing and grabbed the neck of a bottle of beer. When Steve answered in the negative, she handed him the bottle and wiped the moisture from the beer bottle on her pant leg. Steve thanked her and moved back towards Evie,

There was another white flash of light in the sky followed almost simultaneously by a pop. As if he knew what was going to happen, Darry held his wrist out to her to let her glance at the time. _11:56._ She pushed off the railing.

"Gina, Evie!" In turn, a pair of blue and green eyes turned towards her. "Wine?" she questioned. Gina scrunched her nose clearly not happy with her friend's choice of alcohol. As if to prove that she most certainly did not want _wine_ , she reached over and took a sip of Soda's beer. Evie pulled herself away from Steve and made her way to the porch. "Gonna try it?"

Evie glanced at her through her light green eyes and shrugged. "Why not?"

Apparently, Evie was intimidating. Her green eyes were always so intense. She was a Greaser girl through and through. She was tough. She knew the streets. However, Jacquelyn never saw that. She always saw Evie as an independent woman. She knew what she wanted. Apparently, that was intimidating. It could have also been the way that Evie looked as well. In general, she wore a bored expression unless engaged in conversation. She also held herself in a certain manner, with her arms crossed over her chest that seemed off putting. Or it could have been that she was stunning. Evie had raven hair and light green eyes. They complimented each other perfectly.

Jacquelyn smiled and ran into the house. It took her a moment to get into the kitchen from the living room due to the fact that there was just so much stuff on the floor in the living room. She grabbed two plastic cups from the kitchen counter and poured a bit of red wine into both the cups. She moved to put the bottle back in the fridge, but after looking at the bottle just poured the rest of it into her cup. After climbing over the shoes by the door, Jacquelyn pushed the door open with her shoulder and handed the girl the cup.

"It's bitter," Jacquelyn warned.

Two-bit, who had found his way back to the Chevy, turned up the car radio. There was an MC talking on the station. He was excited and laughing with a female MC.

"About 60 seconds left in the year," the man announced.

"Okay, okay, it's starting."

Jacquelyn shifted her gaze to the watch on Darry's wrist. _11:59._

Jacquelyn never thought that this was how she was going to be bringing in the New Year. She figured that she'd be sitting on the sofa with her mom and some guy that her mother was trying to get her to date drinking out of glasses. However, it was the exact opposite. She was standing outside, in a 40 degree December/January night, getting ready to watch fireworks from her high school sweetheart's porch. A high school sweetheart that she had gotten engaged to less eight weeks ago.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Darry reached behind him and pulled a beer from the cooler. Without much effort, he popped the top off on the porch railing. His action reminded her of when they were younger and he was more carefree. The metal lid dropped to the wooden porch with a soft clink. However, it was more or less covered by the sound of the fireworks going off at the park.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

"Happy New Year!"

Jacquelyn tapped the rim of her plastic cup to the rim of Darry's beer bottle before taking a drink. Her hazel eyes scanned the brightly lit night sky, watching as the fireworks exploded with so much color and then faded away only to be replaced with another bright color.

Darry placed his hand on Jacquelyn's waist and turned her to face him, drawing her attention away from the fireworks in the night sky. He rested his and beer on the railing, the brunette female copied him resting her arm on the railing as well.

"To us," Jacquelyn said quietly as she held her cup of wine between them.

Darry smiled and tapped his bottle to her cup again before echoing her and taking another drink. Then he placed his bottle on the railing. He placed his hand on her cheek, and she leaned into his touch. His fingers tangled in her thick brown hair as a soft smile played on her pink lips. He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. His lips tasted like beer, and she was sure that her tasted of fermented grapes. Her hazel eyes briefly met his azure ones.

"Dare!"

Jacquelyn and Darry broke away and he glanced at Soda, to which Gina was still clinging to.

"We have to talk about that," Darry told Jacquelyn, his eyes settling on Gina and Soda, before responding to his brother. "What's up, Little Buddy?"

"Happy New Year," he slurred.

Jacquelyn wasn't sure if Gina was supporting Soda's body weight or if Soda was supporting Gina's. All she knew was that they were both much too drunk to be standing on their own. So somehow they were supporting each other's weight. She also was not looking forward to talking to Darry about _that_. Soda was an adult and he made his own choices. If he wanted to date someone that was two years older than him then he could. Of course, she was sure that it wasn't just the age difference. It was Gina's lack of commitment to Soda. He'd been chasing after her for months, trying to get her to go steady with him, but she just kept dodging it and putting it off. That was getting on Jacquelyn's nerves, but she had to be completely neutral in this situation. Gina was her friend, but Soda was, essentially, her brother, for all intents and purposes. So if sides were forced to be taken, she would have to lose a friend and side with her brother.

"Jac!"

Her hazel eyes focused in on Soda's smiling face. His smile made her smile. "What's up, Sodapop?"

He stumbled over towards her, clumsily finding the railing. "Hey," he said as he took the hand that wasn't wrapped around Darry's neck and looked into her hazel eyes. "Hey, I know you're not a Curtis yet, but you're gonna be, and I'm glad that you're gonna be. I wanna tell you that I love ya' and, and you're great. "

Jacquelyn covered his mouth with her hand and laughed. "Save it for when you're not drunk," she teased. He licked the palm of her hand, forcing her to remove her hand. "Soda, that's gross!"

"Don't touch my mouth," he replied before he leaned over and kissed her cheek, a sloppy, wet kiss on her cheek, before stumbling away.

Jacquelyn ran the palm of her hand down her pants leg and huffed, before turning her eyes to Darry. "Your brothers," she started.

"Yours too," he told her before kissing her again. Because although she didn't have the Curtis name, not yet anyway, Soda and Ponyboy were for all intents and purposes, were her brothers. She was the one that had enough courage to teach Ponyboy how to drive. Of course, Ponyboy played a hand in the selection of his teacher. She was the one that finally got Soda over Sandy. Even if that did mean that he was now spending whatever free time he had with a certain blue-eyed blond. She was family.

"They are ridiculous," she continued when he broke the kiss. She glanced down at his watch. _12:15._ "How are we going to get them to settle down?"

Soda and Pony had taken to hollering and jumping around the yard as the fireworks went off. Soda had pulled Steve away from Evie to force him to join in the racket making. And of course, Two-Bit, who couldn't stand to be left out, joined in the shouting. Gina had her arms crossed over her chest as she and Evie held some idle conversation. Jacquelyn couldn't really tell if Gina liked Evie or if Evie liked Gina. However, it seemed that they both realized what they had to do. Even if they didn't like one another they were seeing two boys that were attached at the hip. Neither boy would let a girl come between their friendship. So they would just have to suck it up.

Darry shrugged. "We don't. We wait until they tire out."

"That could take forever!" the brunette sighed.

Just then Soda, just as drunk as ever, appeared and grabbed her. Jacquelyn let loose a startled scream as Soda drug her off the porch, despite her protests. He realized that she was going to fight him the whole way and attempted to pick her up over his shoulder. However, he only succeeded in falling down and taking her with him, rolling her across the yard.

"Christ Soda," she laughed as she sat up, pushing him off of her.

Ponyboy appeared behind her, shouting, as did Two-Bit. The brunette covered her ears to block out the sound. However, her body was shaking with laughter. Despite the fact that she had been assaulted by Soda and now her ears were being assaulted by the sounds of shouting, she was having a good time.

She was surrounded by her best friends, her family, watching fireworks on New Year's Eve/Day. To her, this was perfect. This was as perfect as it could get. She wouldn't change any of it, and she didn't want any of it to change.

* * *

 **A/N:** Yay new story! Let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Hey, again! Thanks for coming over and making the story one of your favorites and following it as well. Here's the next chapter. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. I have a lot planned for this first half of the story or so, so it might seem like it;s moving fast but ya' know, bear with me.

 **DISCLAIMER:** I don't own The Outsiders.

* * *

Lazy Sundays were by far the best days of the week. This was the only day that all the residents of the house were all in one place. Of course, that didn't mean that they were spending their time together. Soda was laying on the sofa watching something on TV. It sounded like Mickey Mouse, but it could have been anything. Ponyboy said that he was putting the finishing touches on his essay that was due at the end of the week. She and Darry were lying in bed. He was reading the paper and she was reading Ponyboy's copy of _The Great Gatsby._ It was noon and Jacquelyn was still lounging around in her pajamas, which were still a pair of flannel pajama pants and Darry's too-big _University of Tulsa Football_ t-shirt. It had been a very quiet morning at the Curtis house.

Until the phone rang.

"Soda," Jacquelyn shouted when she didn't hear anyone moving to get it.

"Ponyboy," Soda shouted back.

"Darry," Ponyboy called from the kitchen.

Darry looked over at her from the corner of his eye, only to be greeted by her hazel eyes. They continued to gaze at one another for a long moment and another shrill ring of the phone. Jacquelyn sighed and pushed herself off the bed, Darry having won their contest, and jogged down the hall to the phone. She shot Soda a nasty glare as she saw him just lying on the sofa doing nothing and feet from the phone.

"Hello?" she answered. She paused for a moment as she listened to the voice on the other end of the line. "Yeah, he's here," she twisted the cord around her index finger, "Who can I tell him is calling?" She paused again and then she smiled. "Principal Wright! How are you? It's Jacquelyn Ross." She laughed as the principal spoke. "I'm great. Here, one second." She covered the mouthpiece with her hand. "Dare! Phone." She took this time to find something, anything, to launch across the room at Soda. "I hate you," she whispered as she launched a piece of paper at him. Soda stuck his tongue out at her.

Darry appeared behind her and took the phone from her hand. His action cause her to yelp quietly. His blue-green eyes feel to her, trying to figure out what exactly happened. It was then that he realized that her finger was still wrapped up in the phone cord and him pulling the cord had tightened the cord around said finger. He rolled his eyes and leaned towards her as he answered the phone. "Yeah?" He watched as she struggled to release her finger from the cord. "Oh, Principal Wright, what can I do for you?" he questioned. After a moment, Darry tucked the phone in the crook of his neck. "Yeah," he said as he started to untangle her finger. "What?" He finally managed to release her finger and she sighed as she shook her hand, trying to get the blood circulating again. "You want me to?"

"Principal Wright?" Ponyboy questioned as he poked his head into the living room from the kitchen.

"Yeah," the sole female exclaimed quietly. "Are you in trouble?" she questioned Ponyboy, who held his hands up in mock surrender.

"I have to look at some stuff, Principal Wright," Darry said as he brought his finger to his lips, indicating that he wanted them to hush. "No, I'm not turning you down. I'll come in tomorrow afternoon?" Pause. "Yeah, thank you."

"What was that?" the three of them asked simultaneously when Darry hung up the phone. He looked at each of them in turn and shrugged.

"The football coach quit," he said nonchalantly as he started to walk back down the hall.

Jacquelyn clung to his arm attempting to stop him, or slow him down, neither worked. "What did he want?" she asked through gritted teeth.

Darry easily removed her from his arm. "He wants me to coach the football team."

Jacquelyn smiled. "That's great! Are ya' gonna do it?" she asked bouncing on her toes.

She reminded him so much of Sodapop when she did that. "I'm gonna talk to him about it tomorrow," Darry said.

"This is exciting!" she exclaimed again.

"Calm down," he told her as he placed his hand on the top of her head, stopping her bouncing. Although, he could barely hide the excitement that he was feeling. The Principal had remembered him from his high school football days, and when the coach quit Darry had been the first person that he thought of.

Jacquelyn proceeded to rock back and forth on her heels. "You're excited aren't you?" she questioned. To that, Darry rolled his eyes and walked away from her and back towards the bedroom "You are," she sang as she followed him back to the room and they all went back to what they were doing before.

* * *

"Boss, can I have the rest of today off?"

Jacquelyn rolled her eyes at her co-worker's question and shorted. Sometime in December Jacquelyn had been promoted from sales associate to assistant manager. She was pretty much doing the same thing as she had been, she just had the ability to place orders and she had a store key as well. Ever since Jacquelyn had gotten the promotion, Gina had taken to calling her boss and asking for every day off.

"The new guy is coming in today, so you have to be here," Jacquelyn told her as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail with a white ribbon.

Gina groaned loudly as she went to flip the closed sign to open and unlock the front door. "We don't need a new person. Why does it have to be a guy?"

Jacquelyn shrugged. She wasn't sure why it had to be a guy either, but she wasn't going to ask too many questions seeing as the position was still very new to her. "His name is…" her voice trailed off as she moved to the counter to fill open a folder, "It's Russell," Jacquelyn announced. Gina pulled a face and Jacquelyn knowing exactly what the face meant. "Play nice, Gina."

Gina flashed her a fake smile and rolled her baby blue eyes as the door opened.

"Welcome to Penny's," they both chimed in unison, not bothering to look towards the door.

"Hi, I'm looking for Jacquelyn Ross," the person said.

The brunette looked up from the folder and into a pair of light green eyes. "That would be me," she introduced as she stuck her hand out to shake his. His grasp on her hand was solid as they shook hands. His hands were soft against hers. "You would be Russell Flynn, right?"

He nodded. "It's just Russ," he replied tossing her a bright smile.

Jacquelyn was momentarily flustered. "Okay, Russ. This is Gina Fields," she gestured to the blond behind the counter. "She's the senior sales associate," Jacquelyn introduced. He and Gina shook hands and then he turned his attention back to her. "So let me take you to the back to get you all set up with the clocking in and out deal," she said. "Gina, can you handle this rush?" Jacquelyn teased as she started to the back room.

"I don't know how I'll manage," the blond replied as she pulled a magazine from under the counter. "Someone help me," she continued in a deadpan voice.

Jacquelyn lead Russell to the back room, her hands pushed into the pockets of her pants as she walked. "Okay, so the back room. So this is where we store the new shipments and whatnot. Also," she pointed to the square cubbies on the left wall, "I finally got a space for the employees to put anything that they might bring in, ya' know like a jacket," she gestured to the hooks that were drilled into the wall were she and Gina's coats were hanging. "Also where you're gonna clock in and out. Super simple, super old, take the pen write what time you come in on it and when you leave on it. Preferably write how many hours you worked that day, but it's cool whichever way you do it. I have to go back and count check anyway. Got it?" she questioned.

"I got it," he replied smiling at her again.

"I know it's not super hard to get or anything," she told him as she walked past him and back towards the front of the store as the phone rang. "One second," she whispered as she plucked the phone from the cradle. "Penny's, this is Jacquelyn." She lowered her eyebrows. "Hey, Steve. What's up?" she questioned as she leaned against the wall. "My car?" She rolled her eyes. "You called to let me know that it was time for an oil change, Randle? It's store policy?" she snorted. "Okay, I'll let you do it whenever. I'm sure I'll see you around. Bye." She placed the phone back in the cradle and rolled her eyes again. Leave it to Steve to call her at work to tell her that. They both knew that he just wanted to get his hands on her car.

"Boyfriend," Russell asked curiously.

To that Jacquelyn laughed, "No, a friend." Before Russell could respond to her she turned her attention to her friend. "Gina, want me to tell Steve to change your oil?" Jacquelyn questioned as she scratched her side of her arm. Gina opened her mouth to speak. "No Soda cannot do it." Here baby blue eyes rolled dramatically. "Darry wants me to talk to you about that," Jacquelyn said, since it had come up in conversation.

"Talk to me about what?" she questioned as one of her perfectly plucked eyebrow arched.

Jacquelyn looked over at Russell, who was standing with his hands firmly tucked into his pockets, and his green eyes gaze over the store. Jacquelyn crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. "Um, I'll tell you later?" she said. Gina looked less than happy, and Jacquelyn was sure that she knew exactly what she was going to be discussing.

"Fine," Gina scoffed before turning her attention to the magazine on the counter.

Jacquelyn turned her attention back to Russell, who was already gazing at her through his light green eyes. The brunette look momentarily startled. How long had he been looking at her? She felt a blush creep up the back of her neck and rubbed the place on her neck where it was starting to cover it. "Uh, so everything is organized by genre, rock, R&B, pop, county, whatever," she gestured at the shelves in turn. "We've got a whole section of the Beatles and Elvis," she pointed at the back wall. "They're pretty much our best sellers. Rolling Stones too, they sell good as well. It's easier to figure out where everything is if you walk around. Me and Gina can answer any questions you have. Then I'll show you the register, or Gina will, someone will."

With that Jacquelyn stepped to the side and allowed Russell to walk pass her and toward one of the aisles. She then made her way to the counter. She took a spot standing next to Gina and sighed as she pressed her back to the counter and look over at her friend. "He just doesn't like how you're string Soda along," she started quietly, so to keep the conversation between them. Gina looked offended and Jacquelyn continued, trying very hard to remain neutral. "You know that Soda hasn't had it easy, Gina. He's just worried about his brother."

"I'm not doing anything. I told him that I wasn't looking to get tied down," Gina stated as she crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. "S'not my fault that he's the only guy in Tulsa that wants to tie someone down. Must be something in the Curtis blood." Gina ran her fingers though her short hair. "What should I do?"

Jacquelyn held her hands up and shook her head. "I am a neutral party at the moment, okay? All I know is that if you hurt him," she let her sentence trail off because she knew that it wasn't necessary to finish it.

Gina lay her head on the counter and sighed. "Why does he have to be so handsome?"

Jacquelyn laughed and turned around to face the store and to see that Russell was watching her again. However, this time when he saw her glance at him, he looked down and it was his turn to blush. He was a tall boy. Six feet tall maybe, kind of gangly. He was a brunette as well, not quite as dark as hers, kind of a golden brown. His green eyes were set a little close to his nose, and his nose was slim and turned up at the end.

"Ms. Ross," he said after a moment.

Jacquelyn's eyes widened and Gina laughed. "Russ, please, never call me that again. It's just Jacquelyn," she begged as she elbowed Gina in the side trying to make her stop laughing.

"Call her boss," Gina said through her laughter.

"What's up, Russ?" the brunette asked as she crossed her arms on the counter. "Ready for the register?" He nodded. "Gina will teach you."

She and Russell switched spots at the counter and she walked back to the office past the back room. The office was small, a old wooden desk was against the far wall and a shelf on the other wall. There was nothing special about the office, but as long as she was at the store it was hers. She then collapsed into the chair behind the desk and flipped open a folder on the desk. She then swiftly uncapped a pen and started to write on the paper in front of her.

Rachel, the store owner, had given her a brief tutorial on how to order the records that were needed and when to order them. Place an order on Tuesday if something is needed and it should be there Friday morning. When there are new records released, place an order as soon as possible, that way they are in stock as soon as possible. Never let the Beatles or Elvis run out, it's bad for business.

"Jacquelyn!"

The brunette tucked the pen behind her ear and grabbed folder she was working in. She started towards the front of the store, but enter the back room instead. "What?" she shouted.

"How do I do this?" Gina shouted back.

Jacquelyn rolled her eyes, as if she could see what Gina was talking about. "What is the this?" she questioned as she started to look through the open boxes on the floor. There was no response. "Gina?"

"Um, cancel a transaction."

"Void, you void it, Gina."

Jacquelyn moved to the closed boxes, squatting down to look at the title of the record on the side of the box. When she stood, Russell was standing in the doorway. "Hey," she greeted as she scribbled something down.

"She sent me to get you," he replied. His voice was soft and deep, kind of like Darry's.

Jacquelyn sighed and walked out of the back room and to the front. "You can't void?" she questioned as she stood on the customer side of the counter. Gina shrugged. "What happens when you make a mistake?" Gina mumbled something about not making mistakes. Jacquelyn leaned over the counter and pressed a red button at the top left, another red button at the bottom left, and then the cash out button. "It's voided now."

"This is why you're the boss," Gina shouted as Jacquelyn walked back toward the back room. "Thank you."

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

"Fuck you, Steve Randle."

That was the statement that greeted Jacquelyn's ears as she walked into the house. She brought her index and middle finger up to her temple and rubbed the spot as she kicked her shoes into the closet. Between trying to restock the store and Russell shadowing her all over the place, she hadn't really had a moment to herself.

"What Sodapop?" Steve questioned, feigning innocence.

"You're fucking cheating!" Soda shouted as he started to throw his cards at Steve, one by one.

Jacquelyn dropped her keys on the coffee table between the two boys. "If I let you change the oil, will you stop shouting?" she questioned, continuing to rub the side of her head. Steve had snatched her keys up before she'd finished asking and was out of the door. "Where is your brother?"

"The school, remember?" Soda replied as he started out the door.

"Not Dare, Ponyboy," she said.

"'Round back," he replied before the door slammed.

The brunette made her way through the kitchen, stopping to grab and apple off the table, and then out the backdoor.

"It's cold outside, Pony," she greeted as she sat in the grass next to him. He'd been reading something, hopefully school related. Pony's love for reading was admirable. However, it sometimes kept him form doing his actual school work.

He looked over at her and shrugged before closing the book on his thumb. "I don't mind."

"Darry'll tan your hide," she tried again before taking a bite of her apple.

Ponyboy seemed to be thinking her statement over. "You won't let him," he told her.

She snorted but she knew that he was right. Darry was still Pony's legal guardian, that was fine. However, that stunt that Darry pulled, the one that caused Ponyboy to run away, that was never going to happen again. So if she had to step in and speak her piece to keep everything together then she would. It worked half the time, half the time Darry would stop yelling and go sulk in his armchair. The other half, he wouldn't listen to anything that she or Soda were saying. To keep him from knowing that he was right, she elbowed him in the ribs.

"Ouch," he hissed as he reached over to rub his side.

"How are you doing?" she questioned.

He shrugged. "I'm okay." He opened the book again. "How are you?" he asked.

She arched an eyebrow and shrugged. "I'm okay," she echoed.

After a long moment, she shifted in her spot before lying her head on Ponyboy's back. He shifted under her, making himself more comfortable. When he settled, her glanced over at her briefly. Her knees bent, barefeet firmly on the dying grass, and her hands folded over her stomach. "Want me to read to you?" he questioned as he reached over and took the apple from her folded hands and took a bite. Jacquelyn shrugged, signaling that she didn't have an opinion either way. He decided not to.

The silence fell around them. That's what she liked about Ponyboy. He knew when to talk and when to be quiet and he could be quiet. Soda just had all this energy and it was impossible for him to be quiet, comfortably, for a long time. Darry was a little more like Pony, however, if you got him going it took a minute to get him settled down. With Pony, he just understood.

They were like that for a long while until the backdoor creaked open.

"Hey, Pone."

Jacquelyn opened her hazel eyes and looked over Ponyboy's shoulder and exhaled softly.

"Hey, Dare," Ponyboy replied before returning his attention to the book.

"Jacquelyn," Darry greeted.

"How was the football thing?" she questioned as she sat up and pushed herself off the ground. She wiped the grass off her pants and the back of her sweater. He shrugged. Jacquelyn mimicked his action. "What does that mean?" she teased as she walked towards him. He shrugged again with his hands in his pocket. "Tell me," she whined as she wrapped her arms around his waist and batted her eyelashes.

Soda appeared in the kitchen and then bounded through the back door, "You take the job?" Soda asked bouncing on his toes.

Darry looked down at you and then over at Soda. Then towards Ponyboy, who hadn't said anything in this process and was continuing to read, "Pone?"

Ponyboy closed the book and sat up, stretching. "Ya' taking it?" Ponyboy questioned as he stood and walked towards Soda, who wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"I took it," Darry said finally.

"Coach Curtis," she and Soda said together.

Darry looked mighty embarrassed as he pried Jacquelyn from his waist. "No," he told them both.

"Coach Curtis," Ponyboy teased. "Suits you."

With that he walked into the house.

"Coach Curtis!" she and Soda exclaimed again.

Soda clapped his brother on the back and muttered a congratulations and then turned his attention to Jacquelyn. "Steve is under your car now," he informed her before walking into the house.

Jacquelyn wrapped her arms around his neck and laughed. "Can I name all the plays?" she questioned as she look up at him.

Darry laughed. "Absolutely not."

She looked offended. "Well why not?"

"Can't have the boys running plays with girly sounding names," he told her before he kissed her, an attempt to soften the blow of the insult that he had placed on her.

"You are unbelievable," she snorted. "What is a girly names for a play?"

"Frilly blitz," Darry supplied, causing the girl hanging from his neck to laugh. "Go away," he told her.

"Frilly blitz?" she said through her laughter. "Maybe you're the one that can't name the plays," she teased. Darry pinched her side, but that only made her laugh harder. "When do you start doing football things?" she questioned.

He shrugged in a noncommittal way.

"Tomorrow?" she questioned with an arched eyebrow.

"Gotta get back in shape," he told her before kissing her cheek and ducking out of her grasp.

Jacquelyn stood with her arms crossed over her chest, watching him enter the house through the back door. He glanced over his shoulder at her. "What?" he questioned.

She shook her head and waved him off with a slight smiled on her face. "Nothing," she told him and as he continued into the house she added, "Coach."

He shot her a look that was almost nasty, but she could tell that he was happy with his decision to take the position as coach. And that was all that mattered.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Here's the next chapter. Now why do you guys have a bad feeling about the new guy? ;) I love to hear from you guys. Keep letting me know what you think. I wanted to get this one up because I'm gonna be a little busy for a few days and I wanted you guys to have something to keep you entertained while I'm gone. I'll be working on chapter five on and off, since I already have four finished,it just needs to be proofed and uploaded. So enjoy this until I get back!

 **DISCLAIMER:** I don't own _The Outsiders._

* * *

It was raining and every part of Jacquelyn Ross' body was soaked when she walked into Penny's on a cold Wednesday morning. Gina was leaning against the counter, twisting a piece of gum around her index finger, a disguising habit really. Her baby blue eyes flicked over to Jacquelyn as she walked in, her pink lips parted to say something in a teasing manner to her friend, but the expression on Jacquelyn's face silenced her. Russell appeared from behind a shelf that he was restocking, he too opened his mouth to greet her, however decided against it, with a faint blush on his cheeks, and continued to stock the shelf silently. The brunette didn't even bother to clock in, she just went straight to the phone and dialed a number.

"DX," the voice on the other end of the line said.

"Soda," Jacquelyn said, trying very hard to keep the frustration out of her voice. It wasn't his fault that she was wet and cold. He'd needed to borrow her car to get to work, since Darry had left so early, it was took rainy to do roofing but there was job that involved some indoor painting on the south side of town, so she'd told him to drop her off at the bus stop and she'd catch the bus. Thinking that the bus stopped closer to Penny's than it did. It wasn't until she saw that stop that she realized that it was three blocks from Penny's. So she'd had to walk three blocks in the cold Tulsa rain.

"Are you okay?" he questioned.

"Fine," she snapped. "Can you run home and grab me a change of clothes? Navy sweater, white pedal pushers, please."

"I told you to let me drive you to work," he told her. On his end of the line, she could hear him picking up a set of keys.

"Sweater is in the middle drawer, pants in the bottom, and socks. Clean socks."

"I'll be there soon," he told her before he hung up.

Jacquelyn all but slammed the receiver back into the cradle and sighed.

"Rough day, Boss?" Gina asked. The venomous look that Jacquelyn shoot her silenced her smartass remarks.

The brunette ran her hand over her face, trying to keep the water that was dripped from her dark hair out of her eyes, and sighed. "Sorry, Gina. I'm not mad at you. Russ I'm sorry too."

"I would have come to get you," Gina told her. "Should have called."

"Who was gonna watch the store? Jacquelyn replied as she started to pull her dark hair off her neck.

Gina shrugged. "Are you just gonna stand there?"

"What else am I supposed to do?" Jacquelyn said as she rolled her eyes.

Gina shrugged and turned her attention back to the magazine in front of her. Russell made his was down the hallway. "Hey, Russ," she greeted leaning on the wall.

"Boss," he greeted as he smiled at her and made his way into the back room.

Jacquelyn stood there for what seemed like forever before the little bell over the door and a semi wet Sodapop ran in. He flashed her a smile and started to walk towards her. He tossed her a towel as he did. Jacquelyn caught it and she was silently grateful to him. She hadn't even thought about a towel, but he had. She had been living with her hair and the way that it retained water for her entire life and hadn't thought of a stupid towel. Bless him.

"Bless you," she muttered as she took the towel to her hair and started to rub at it. Soda stopped in front of her and leaned on the wall in front of her. When she looked up at him, there was a goofy grin on his face. "What?"

"So I went and got Evie," he prefaced. "And she went and got your clothes." She looked at him for a long moment, not really sure why he was telling her this. She blinked and then a blush started to creep across her cheeks.

"You're holding my underwear!" she whisper-gasped as she snatched the heap of clothes from his arms. He laughed at the mortified look on her face. "S'not funny!"

"I had Evie get your delicates," he told her as she took a playful swing at him. Her entire face was red at this point. "Hurry up and change so I can put your stuff in the wash. There's a load ready anyway."

"You're NOT washing my underwear," she hissed.

Soda laughed harder and took a step away from her, after pinching her cheek. "I'll just throw them in the washer and walk away," he promised. He turned to face the counter and Gina. "Hey, babe," he greeted.

Jacquelyn scoffed and turned on her heel to go into the back room that Russell had just exited. Not bothering to close the door, she walked to the back of the room, dropped her clean clothes on the top of a box and started to tug off her pants. After quickly drying her legs, she tugged on the dry pair. Then she started trying to pull her wet sweater from her body. The wet fabric clung to her skin and when she finally pried it off her skin, her hair had managed to get tangled in it. She was mumbling under breath. She gasped as she finally freed herself from the wet sweater and dropped it on the floor. She moved to unclip her bra when she looked up and spotted a pair of green eyes watching her from the open door.

"Shit!" she gasped as she pulled her sweater over her chest. "Russell."

"Whatcha' doing, buddy?"

That was Soda. His voice held a menacing tone in it. She could hear his footsteps approaching the room and before she could say anything, Soda had pushed her co-worker against the wall, with a soft thud, holding him there by the front of his navy shirt.

Jacquelyn took this chance to quickly change bras, without taking the old one off before clipping the new one on, and then tugged on her new sweater. "Soda, stop," the brunette said as she climbing over the boxes. Soda was now holding him to the wall with his forearm pressed to his chest and his other hand balled into a fist. "Stop," she said again, a little more urgently as she started to pull on Soda's arm.

Soda glared at Russell for another long moment before he took a step back and lowered his arm. Russell's green eyes were wide, but he didn't say anything, instead he went back to the front of the store. Jacquelyn tugged Soda into the back room and turned to face him. His brown eyes were furious. "Calm down, please," she begged. "Please."

"That guy," he hissed. "That guy just…"

"I know!" she told him. "I know, just calm down."

Soda glared at her for a moment before rolling his eyes. "You sweater is on backwards," he told her as he pulled the tag off the sweater and turned his back to her.

Jacquelyn quickly tugged the sweater off, with Soda standing guard, and then back on the right way. "Don't tell Darry," she told him as she gathered all her wet clothes into a pile and wrapped them in the towel. Soda looked at her blankly. "Soda!" she shouted. "Please don't." He continued to look at her as if she was an idiot. "I'll tell him. Just don't tell him," she begged as she dropped the towel into his hands.

"Jacquelyn," he said slowly.

Him using her full name caught her off guard. "I'm gonna tell him."

Soda took the towel and sighed. "Fine. I'll know if you don't," he told her as they started to walk out of the back room.

Russell was leaning against the back wall, rubbing the spot on his chest where Soda had pressed her arm into his chest. Soda shot Russell a venomous look as they walked pass him, Russell did the right thing and continued to look down. Gina was leaning on the counter looking like she was trying to decide whether or not she should go talk to Russ.

"I'll see you later?" Soda asked Gina as he stepped out into the rain, but he never took his eyes off Jacquelyn.

"Yeah," Gina replied, looking between the future sibling-in-laws. "See ya'."

* * *

Dinner had been painfully awkward.

Soda sat across from Jacquelyn at the table, literally glaring at her and taking violent stabs at the piece of chicken on his plate. In response, Jacquelyn did everything in her power to not look at Soda the whole time. Ponyboy and Darry spend the entirely of the meal looking between Soda and Jacquelyn and then back at each other. Any shot at conversation was killed by Soda's tone and Jacquelyn's vague answers.

Jacquelyn couldn't quite make out if Soda was upset with her or just upset that what happened happened. She wasn't able to place it. Was he mad at Russell? Clearly. They all were. When he has seen her tugging off her sweater, he should have turned around and left. However, she probably should have closed the door. However, he should have not be ogling her. She mentally slapped herself. Ogling probably shouldn't be the word she used when she told Darry.

"I'm gonna go do homework," Ponyboy said as he stood from the table and put his dishes in the sink. "It's my turn to do the dishes, so I'll get them when y'all are done." He looked at Soda and Jacquelyn again. "Okay," the boy said slowly as left the room.

"Gonna get Gina and go to the Ribbon with Steve and Evie," Soda announced as he mimicked Ponyboy's actions.

When he left, Jacquelyn could feel the air lighten and she could finally breathe.

"What was that?" Darry questioned as she took her plate and put it in the sink.

And just like that the tension was around her again, and it was hard to breath. Well those five seconds of east breathing had been fun. He was not going to take this well. At all.

"What?"

"You and Soda," he replied as she leaned on the sink.

"I gotta tell you something," she told him as she ducked her head and started to twist her ring around her finger. A nervous habit she'd picked up recently. "Don't get mad," she started.

Darry looked over at her and leaned back on the counter, facing her with his arms crossed over his chest. "What?"

Anything that started with 'don't get mad' usually resulted in an angry Darrell Curtis.

"So, at work today," she started, continuing to twist the ring around her finger. "You know it rained and I got wet, like really wet, because you know it was raining and all. So I called Soda to get some clothes, because I was wet from the rain." Whenever she was talking about something that she didn't particularly care to talk about, she always rambled, repeated details. "So he brought the clothes and all. You know that we got that new guy, remember, Russ? So he was stocking shelves. So I was changing in the back room and," she heard something hit the counter loudly. She peeked up and saw that Darry was holding a glass that he'd slammed on the counter as she was speaking. "And he might have seen… me… changing…"

The glass broke when Darry slammed his hand down on the counter again.

"Jacquelyn," he growled from somewhere deep in the back of his throat. The brunette forced herself to look at Darry as he stood with his hand on the counter and the other balling in a tight fist. His face was growing red and her forehead wrinkled. He was mad. "What are you talking about?"

"The new guy might have possibly probably definitely seen… me… without… my… sweater…" she told him.

Jacquelyn flinched as Darry slammed his fist on the glass of the broken cup.

And just like that she was back there.

She was there with her father. He was drunk and yelling. He was always yelling. Drunk and yelling about how she wasn't doing anything right. He was throwing beer bottles, the glass shattering against the wall or the floor.

Darry seemed to pick up on the fear on her face, because he stopped yelling and exhaled deeply, brought his hand to his temples trying to calm himself.

"Jacquelyn," he said again, his voice still tense and frustrated.

He had not intended to frighten her, but Christ! This guy, one that she had already admitted made her feel slightly uncomfortable with way that he was always lurking around and watching her with his green eyes. Even Evie, who had run into the store to grab an Elvis record for her little brother's birthday, had said he was a little off. And now there was this...

As mad, no furious as he was, he tried his best to reign it in. For her sake.

"Hand me the broom, will you?" he questioned, trying to maintain an even tone of voice.

He heard the chair she was sitting in scrape against the floor as she moved towards the broom. He wasn't watching her. He heard her open the panty and pull the broom out. He looked down at her as she appeared in front of him with the broom, as well as a first aid kit. When had she gotten that?

"Gimmie your hand," she said quietly as she leaned the broom against the counter. She opened the first aid kit and pulled an antiseptic wipe out.

Darry looked down at his hand. He hadn't even realized that he'd cut his hand on the glass, nor did he notice that it was bleeding. He sighed, holding his hand out to her. He watched as she ripped the packet open with her teeth and quickly rubbed the wipe across the palm of his hand. The cut wasn't anything to bad, just a surface wound, but it ran across the width of his palm. She wrapped in a bandage and then handed him the broom. All very quietly.

"Jacquelyn," he called to her as she started to leave the kitchen. She stopped and turned on the heel of her foot to glance at him. She leaned back on the doorframe and watched him quietly. "I'm not mad at you," he told her. Which wasn't completely true. Why hand's she closed the door? He knew the answer to that. She was so used to it being just her and Gina. She didn't need to close a door to change with Gina there. Her hazel eyes were accusatory. "I'm mad that you didn't think to close the door," he corrected. "Not mad at you."

"You didn't have to break the glass," she told him quietly. "You weren't mad at it." Darry scoffed and started to brush the glass on the counter into the dust pan. "I'm sorry."

Darry looked at her briefly before going to continue the sweeping the glass off the floor. "Why are you apologizing?" She hadn't actually done anything wrong. He winced as he stood up, a pain running across his upper back, but Jacquelyn hadn't seemed to notice. Between working and starting his training to coach football, his body was exhausted. He moved toward the trashcan, where he dumped the glass and turned to face her.

She shrugged, not bothering to look at him. It seemed that she had found something very interesting about the small tear in her sock. "Seemed like I should apologize."

Darry lifted her chin with his hand, "Don't." He moved his hand and shoved them into the pockets of his jeans and looked away from her. "He didn't do anything?" He had to asked, even though asking made him furious.

Jacquelyn shook her head. "Never had the chance, Soda slammed him against the wall." A soft smile played on her lips. Soda was looking out for her, just like a little brother should.

Darry nodded, looking back down at her. "Hold 'im at the neck?" he questioned. Jacquelyn rolled her eyes and laughed. "He hit 'im?" She shook her head. "Good kid."

* * *

Of course, Darry came in on his lunch break the next day. His hair was perfectly greased and slicked back. He was wearing a tight black shirt, the type the clung to every muscle in torso and threatened to rip when he moved, as well as a pair of denim pants and black converse. He looked like the stereotype of a Greaser.

She and Gina had been leaning on the counter looking in a magazine, and talking about Paul Newman. His new movie Harper was coming out and Gina was just swooning over the man. Going on and on about how handsome he was and how he was a World War 2 veteran and that made him so much more handsome. Jacquelyn was laughing when the door opened and the bell jingled over the door.

"Welcome to," she looked up. "Darry?" she questioned, her voice full of surprise. Gina looked up as well. "What are you...?" Her voice trailed off. "You have to go. You cannot do this here." She pushed away from the counter and started walking towards him. When she reached him, she started to push against his large frame hoping to push him towards the door.

Her efforts were in vain.

Maybe Russ would just stay in the back room where he was sorting through the new arrivals.

"Hey, Boss," Russell's voice called to her.

No luck there either.

"I think we are missing a box of the Rolling Stones record," he told her as he continued to walk towards her looking down at the paper in his hand. He tapped the pen to the corner of his mouth. When she didn't respond he looked up not into the warm hazel eyes of his boss but into the icy azure ones of Darry Curtis.

When Darry wanted to, he could look mighty intimidating. This was one other times that he wanted to. His arms were crossed over his chest, the fabric of the black shirt stretching to cover his muscles. Russell took a step back from them both. Jacquelyn changed a glace upward. There was a dark shadow over his face and his eyes were cold and hard.

"Stop it," she told him as she pulled on his arm. Easily, he moved her hand from his arm and placed her to the side. "Dare," she started, but decided that it was best to stop talking. "Uh, Russell, this is Darrell Curtis, my uh, fiancé," she introduced as she went to lean on the counter in front of Gina. She did not want to be involved in this, whatever this was.

It seemed that Russell knew exactly why he was standing in front of a very angry looking man. Russell took another step back from the man and looked towards Jacquelyn and Gina for help.

Darry unfolded his arms and held his hand out to Russell. "Darrell Curtis," he introduced putting much more bass in his voice than necessary.

"Russell Flynn," the green eyed boy responded.

She'd never heard his voice sound that way. Even Gina looked up and toward her co-worker. Whenever he spoke to her or Gina, his voice was quiet. However, as he talked to Darry there was a deeper tone in his voice. She wasn't sure if he was just fronting for Darry, but he looked a little taller. He was holding himself differently.

"Pleasure," Darry countered as they shook hands.

"I don't like this," Gina told her friend.

"Not at all," Jacquelyn agreed.

After a long moment of watching Darry and Russ have this manly stare off, Jacquelyn finally sighed and started to pull Darry's shirt. "Come on," she said as she pulled on his arm. "Come on," she continued as she struggled to pull him out of the room.

"What brings you here?" Russell asked as he pushed his hand into his pocket.

Gina and Jacquelyn exchanged glances. Russell was starting to get into some dangerous territory.

"My fiancée works here, just thought I come in and see her," Darry told him as he placed his hand on her forearm to stop her from pulling on him.

"Sweet of you," Russell commented.

"Russ!" Jacquelyn exclaimed. "What did you need, you came out to tell me something? About the boxes and something." Anything to keep Darry from slamming him into a wall.

"Huh? Yeah, are we missing a box of the Rolling Stones records?" he questioned, his eyes not leaving Darry. She knew that look. He was sizing Darry up, just in case he swung at him.

"No," she replied still pulling on Darry. "It's in the corner, I had Gina put some out this morning."

He nodded. "Curtis," Russell said as a goodbye.

"Flynn."

Russell turned over his shoulder and started back towards the back room.

"Gina, I'm gonna step out," Jacquelyn said as she continued to pull on Darry's arm hoping that he would finally un-root himself from that spot. When he finally did, she was pulling at him and it caused her to stumbled backwards. He caught her wrist keeping her from falling and started out of the store, Jacquelyn on his heels. "What was that?" she questioned as the door closed.

"Did you really expect not to see me today?" he questioned as he leaned on his truck.

Jacquelyn sighed and crossed her arms. "Well, no."

She looked into the store's window and saw the Russell was standing near it placing records on the shelves. Darry looked over and saw him too.

"Don't like him," he said.

Jacquelyn shrugged. "Can't say I'm his biggest fan either."

Russell's green eyes flicked over towards the window and met Jacquelyn's hazel ones and Darry's blue-green ones.

Darry leaned down and kissed her. His lips pressed against hers with a sort of hard, but tender kiss. The kind that made her weak in the knees. But wasn't so soft as to make anyone question his toughness. And...

"You!" she all but shouted as she broke the kiss. "You are marking your territory."

His blue-green eyes rolled. "You are being dramatic." He reached over to brush her hair from her eyes, but she pulled back. "Jacquelyn."

"I am not your territory! I am my own person. You don't own me." She poke him in the chest for every word of the last sentence she spoke. She turned away from him, but he grabbed her wrist. "What?"

"No you're not my 'territory', but you are mine."

In all the years that she had been with Darry, she had never heard him call anyone his. When they first met he was seeing some blond, Emma was her name. He and Emma dated for a week or two after Jacquelyn came, but apparently they had been dating for a few months before that. Darry had never told he why he and Emma broke up. All she knew was that Emma was wearing someone else's letter jacket the next week. He had never called Emma his. He'd also never call her his. They'd been together for two years before his parents passed, and he never called her that. Now he was suddenly calling her his?

And honestly, she wasn't really sure how to take that.

"I... You..." She narrowed her hazel eyes and pointed at him. "You, ugh!"

It seemed that she was going to decide on taking it as a compliment from him. That he would say that she belonged with him and only him.

"I, I'm still mad at you," she told him with her arms crossed over her chest and glared at him.

He wasn't watching the window anymore, he was watching her. "Are you?" he asked.

She lowered her eyebrows, huffing, "Yes."

Darry shrugged and leaned down to kiss her again. This time it wasn't a kiss to make Russell aware of their relationship or anything of that nature. It was just a kiss. "Then I'm doing my job right."

"You'll be sleeping on the sofa tonight," she told him.

His eyebrow arched and a smiled played on his lips. "In my own house? You're kicking me out of my bedroom?"

"Yes," she told him as she started to walk back to the entrance of the story. She looked over her shoulder, her hazel eyes dancing. "Our bedroom?"

Darry laughed. "Well I guess it is if you're kicking me out of it."

Jacquelyn shrugged as she opened the door, the bell jingling as she did. "I'll think about letting you stay in the bedroom tonight. Depends on what you make and/or bring home for dinner. I'm thinking pizza," she shouted as he started the truck. "Poker tonight," she reasoned. "Thank you!" she shouted before she allowed the door of Penny's to slam behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Here's the next chapter! This chapter and the previous one are pretty much the start to the basis of the story and the plot. And I wanna say more, but I'll let you all enjoy the chapter. There's an Author's Note at the bottom as well, so check it out when you finish.

 **DISCLAIMER:** I don't own _The Outsiders._

* * *

"Welcome to Penny's," Jacquelyn voiced from behind the counter where she and Gina were leaning. It was nearing closing time, _5:30,_ and they closed at 6. They were once again looking at a magazine on the counter. This one was about the changes in fashion and models. Jacquelyn had no real interest in the topic of fashion. It was just Gina and Jacquelyn today. After the sweater incident, as Gina had taken to calling it, two weeks ago Jacquelyn had given Russell one day off a week. When Russ wasn't there it was just like before. She and Gina talking about whatever they wanted. She liked it best this way.

Her hazel eyes look away from the magazine and towards the customer.

It was Two-Bit. A very frantic, distressed looking, out of breath Two-Bit.

"You gotta come home," he gasped as he pushed the door open again.

Jacquelyn arched an eyebrow. "I can't just leave, Two-Bit."

"Jacquelyn, you have to go home," he said again. His voice holding such conviction that she had to believe him. That and the fact that he used her full first name. Darry was the only one that did that.

"What happened?" she asked as she grabbed her keys from under the counter. She slipped the key to the store off the ring and placed it on the counter next to Gina's magazine. "Lock up, please." Gina nodded. "What happened?" she asked again as she moved from behind the counter.

"Just go home," he demanded, panting, as he literally pushed her from the store, out the door, and to her car. He then ran around the car to the passenger side and pulled the door open. "Jacquelyn, let's go."

He had her concerned as she backed out of the parking spot and turned on to the road. "Did you run here?" she questioned. Two-Bit was breathing hard and his face was red. The back of his shirt was wet with sweat. "Keith, what happened? Is everyone okay?"

He met her panicked gaze in the rearview mirror. However, he was struggling so much to breath that he couldn't answer. So he shook his head no.

That made her drive faster. Not slowing down at yellow lights and not actually coming to a full stop at the stop signs. If anything had happened to any of them, Steve included, she wasn't sure what she was going to do. She wasn't sure how she was handle that.

The brunette skidded to a stop next to Darry's truck. She tugged her door open and slammed it behind her. She ran up to the front door and tugged it open, not bothering to take her shoes off or anything. When she stepped into the house, it felt like all the air had been sucked from the room. She struggled to breath.

Ponyboy was sobbing, wailing really, on the sofa leaning against Soda. Soda was cradling his little brother against him, shushing him, trying desperately to get him to calm down. However, Soda wasn't exactly calm either. His brown eyes were panicked and red, like he'd be rubbing at them with the heels of his hands. He was frowning deeply, his eyebrows furrowing. Steve was sitting next to Soda, his head in his hands. His perfectly coiled hair messy from what looked like him running his fingers through it. Steve tugged his fingers through her hair, as if to prove her point. She peeked over the armchair. Darry was leaning forward with his head in his hands, much like Steve, only he was holding a piece of paper in his hands. As she stepped closer, she noticed that his shoulders were shaking like he was crying.

"Steve," she said quietly. He lifted his brown eyes to her. "Steve, what's…" She let her voice trail off as she saw Soda shaking his head. However, what he was trying to avoid, Ponyboy sobbing even louder, happened anyway.

Darry leaned back in the arm chair, his eyes red as well, still clutching the piece of paper in his hands.

"Christ, someone tell me what's going on!" she demanded. No one spoke, the room was silent save for Ponyboy's wailing. "Now!" she was trying to sound demanding, but her voice was quiet.

Darry handed her the paper that he'd been holding. It crumpled in the center from where Darry had it clutched in his hand. Slowly she smoothed it out and started to read.

SELECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM

ORDER TO REPORT FOR INDUCTION

The President of The United States,

To: Sodapop Patrick Curtis

14 E Archer Street

Tulsa, Oklahoma 774115

Greeting: You are hereby ordered for induction into the Armed Forces of the United States and report at…

She couldn't read the rest because her vision started to blur and the paper fell from her hands. She didn't need to read anymore. She didn't want to read anymore. Most importantly, she couldn't.

Jacquelyn struggled to breath, her breathes coming in short uneven gasps. Her lungs were starting to sting from the lack of oxygen she was getting. Her hands were shaking, which was probably why she had dropped the letter in the first place.

"Sit down, Jac," Soda warned, his brown eyes watching her carefully.

Did she look as bad and she felt?

"Jac," he shouted to her over the sound of Ponyboy's wailing. Her hazel eyes snapped to his brown ones.

However, her eyes weren't focused in on him. Everything was blurring around the edges. She could see his lips moving but she wasn't comprehending what he was saying. It wasn't until she felt someone tugging on her that she could bring her focus to her attention. Darry had pulled her down on to the arm of the armchair, but he didn't seem to be paying her any attention.

What was going on here? This was Soda. Soda had never done anything bad in his life. Soda who was always the first to offer his help. Soda who was a lover. That Soda had been drafted. Fucking drafted. Into that damn war on the other side of the world. Things like this didn't happen to Soda. No. He'd been hurt too much. His parents were killed. His friends died. His girlfriend left him, but not before cheating on him and getting knocked up. When was e gonna have something good happen to him?

"Jacquelyn," Darry snapped at her. His tone caught her off guard and she turned her hazel eyes to him. His head was back in his hands, the heels of his hands pressed to his eyes. "I need you to breath." She hadn't realized that she wasn't breathing. Maybe that was why her chest hurt so badly.

"Sorry," she mumbled after taking several deep breaths.

She started to twist her ring around her finger, because she couldn't figure out what to do. This was so wrong. She wanted to seek comfort, but from who? Soda was busy with quieting sobs from his little brother. Steve was trying his damnedest not to cry. Two-Bit looked as lost as she felt. And Darry, well that wasn't a place to seek comfort right now. She could give comfort, but how? Ponyboy was receiving it from Soda. Steve wouldn't take it. Two-Bit well he'd probably ask for a beer. And Darry, what did she say to him?

"Jacquelyn, stop!" Darry snapped at her, this time her name was a growl from the back of his throat. Everyone looked over at her, even the still crying Ponyboy. His tone startled her again, causing her to twist her ring right off her finger. She tried desperately to catch it before it hit the ground, and failed. The ring clattered against the floor lightly. "Christ, Jacquelyn," Darry snapped again as he reached down to pick up the ring that she'd dropped. "Can't you sit still for one damn second?"

After ashort moment of surprise, she stood from the arm of the chair and pushed her hands into her pockets. Soda seemed to pick up on what was happening before the other's did.

"Jac, he didn't mean…" He stopped speaking when she held up her hand, signaling him to stop talking, and turned around and walked towards the front door. She pulled it open gently, stepped out, and let it close behind her.

As she started to walk down the steps, she heard Soda say quietly, "You didn't have to yell at her like that, Darry."

"Doesn't matter," she heard Darry grunt in response.

Jacquelyn ducked her head as she continued walking across the yard, kicking a small rock as she did. She crossed her arms over her chest as she walked down the street. She'd left her jacket at work when Two-Bit had come to drag her out of the store, and now she was cold. However, she continued to walk. Sh refused to go back home right now. The breeze nipped at her nose, causing it to turn red. She pulled her hands into her sleeves and covered her nose with her hands.

She kept a constant look out as she walked. She didn't want to get to close to Soc territory. They liked to hang at the edge of Greaser territory and watch. If they saw a greaser, they would cross the line. That was the last thing that she needed. Socs teasing her.

"Jacquelyn."

That voice was familiar to her. Not one that she was really familiar with but one that she knew.

"Russell," she answered.

She stopped walking and looked over towards a small coffee shop she was passing. Russell was coming out of the shop with a cup of coffee. He approached her and offered the cup to her. When she denied it, he shoved it into her hands, demanding she take it. She figured that that mean that she looked pretty bad. She was sure that her eyes were red from when she was crying and from her rubbing at them with the heels of her hands as she walked. She was pretty sure her cheeks were also red, a combination of the cold air caressing her skin and the fact that her face always turned red when she cried. Not to mention the fact that there was definitely streaks of black mascara on her face.

"Thanks," she said before taking a sip. The liquid warmed her instantly.

"Are you okay?" he questioned.

She paused for a long moment. "Soda got drafted," she told him. It felt so weird to say. It felt weird because she was still accepting the fact that it had happened.

"The guy that slammed me on the wall?" he asked. Jacquelyn nodded. "Serves him right."

Jacquelyn dropped the cup of coffee on the ground, it was like her hands just stopped working. The contents spilling on to the pavement and the cup rolling away in the breeze. "He's my brother," she snarled as her hands balled into fists. Now wasn't the time for technicalities and details. "And he's my friend. How dare you say something like that?! No one deserves that. No matter what they have done. You don't even know him!" She was literally shaking with rage, and to keep from saying anything that she would regret. "I have to go," she told him, trying her best to reign in her temper ass she turned her back to him and started walking the direction she'd come.

"Jacquelyn, wait," he called to her. "Look, I didn't know that he was your brother. I guess I'm still upset about that whole thing," he said. He had yet to apologize for what happened. In fact, he hadn't said anything about it since Soda left. "Look, let me take you home," he said as he gestured to a white Chevy parked next to the curb.

"No thank you," she told him as she continued to walk. "But thank you for you apology."

* * *

When she walked into the yard, Soda was sitting on the front porch smoking. He glanced up at her, with his tired bloodshot eyes, and then back down at the spot where he'd been looking before she approached him. Jacquelyn settled into the spot next to him. He quiet for a long while, taking a few long, slow drags off his cigarette.

"I'm scared," he admitted.

Jacquelyn took the cigarette from his hands and took a long drag before exhaling. She and Soda weren't smokers by any means, however they were Greasers and they knew how to smoke. Jacquelyn didn't do it because it smelled not great and it wasn't very ladylike. Soda didn't do it because he didn't need a boost to enjoy life. However right now it seemed that she didn't care about being ladylike and he needed that boost.

"I'd be concerned if you weren't."

She went to hand the cigarette back to him, but he'd already pulled another one from the pack and lit it.

"How's Ponyboy?" she questioned.

Soda shrugged. "He stopped crying," Soda answered. "I don't think he's okay though." He was silent for a while. She watched the end of the cigarette burning. "He's just a kid," Soda said quietly, drawing her attention from the embers falling off the cigarette.

Jacquelyn was quiet as she tried to formulate something better to say than the first thing that popped into her head. However, she wasn't able to think of anything, so she just told him. "You're just a kid."

Soda glanced at her before looking back out over the yard. "What if.."

"Don't what if," Jacquelyn told him. "Don't do that."

Soda shrugged and took a long drag from the cigarette. "When Ponyboy was crying he started me thinking about it. What if I don't come back?"

"Stop talking," Jacquelyn demanded. "You aren't the one that talks that way."

"Just being realistic," he told her before stubbing the cigarette out.

"You aren't the realistic one," she commented quietly, as she rubbed her cigarette out as well.

"Darry went to look for you," Soda supplied after a long moment of silence between them. Soda stood and turned to walk into the house. Jacquelyn stood as well. Before he could start walking, she grabbed him and pulled him into a fierce hug. Soda returned the hug, squeezing her tighter. "I don't wanna die, Jac," he choked out.

She didn't have a response for that. So she just hugged him tighter. She felt his body start to shake against hers and then felt moisture on her neck. He was crying and all she wanted to do was comfort him. But also she could do was hug him.

After a few minutes, he pulled out of her arms wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. "I'll go check on Pony, you get Darry. He went towards the park, I think." Jacquelyn looked at Soda for a long moment before pushing her hands into her pockets. "He's sorry he yelled at you," Soda supplied. "He didn't mean it." Jacquelyn continued to look at him and Soda shrugged, when she opened her mouth to speak he spoke before her. "The park," he said before walking into the house.

* * *

 **A/N:** I'm sorry! Please don't hate me! Please! Soda getting drafted is so sad and depression and upsetting and that's why I did it. How will the Curtis' plus Jacquelyn survive? Leave a review! I don't mind if it's in all caps and shouty about how you don't want me to kill Soda. :) Let me know what you think!


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Wow, you guys were so passionate about Soda. Me as a person, I'm very sorry for drafting him. It hurt me to write it. However, me as a writer, sorry not sorry. :) Thanks for reviewing the last chapter. I did know that S.E Hinton said that Soda got drafted and I always wanted to not believe it because it's freaking Soda, like why would that happen? But then I realized that because it's Soda is why it happened, if that makes any sense. As for his fate, I haven't quite decided. ;) This chapter is 100% fluff, but I think in order to balance out the bad, there needs to be some good. So let me know what you think!

 **DISCLAIMER:** I don't own _The Outsiders._

* * *

Jacquelyn Ross stood for a long time outside of the door after Soda went back into the house. As he entered, she heard Steve's voice. She hadn't realized that he was still there. But then again, why would he leave? His best friend was getting ready to get shipped out to the other side of the world. Steve would never leave Soda. That realization caused her the slightest panic. Steve would never leave Soda. Steve was going to try to enlist in the damned Armed Forces. He wasn't going to let Soda go alone. At that moment, she was very tempted to bolt into the house and talk some sense into Steve. While he might not have said anything to Soda or anyone else yet, she knew that it was coming. However, she had something else to do right now. She would talk Steve off that ledge later.

Jacquelyn turned on her heel, her heel leaving a semi-circle in the gravel as she did, and started off in the direction that Soda had told her that Darry had gone. When she was halfway down the street, she noted that the sun had completely set and the wind was blowing a little harder and a little cooler. Why hadn't she gone and grabbed a jacket when she was in the yard? She pulled her hands into the sleeves of her sweater and continued to walk.

As she continued down the road, she tried to figure out what she was going to say to Darry when she found him. If she was honest with herself, she was mad at him for yelling at her. Despite the fact that she did understand why he was yelling. Darry wasn't good with feelings. He could do angry and happy. However anything that was in between those two, he couldn't quite process. The sadness that he felt came out as anger, but who was he angry at? Soda? For what? All he did was turn eighteen. No, the thing that he was angry at wasn't completely tangible to him. He was angry at whoever drew Soda's birthday. He was angry that the President for entering this stupid war. However, those were people that he couldn't be angry at and it matter. So that anger got bottled up and came out at the first person that did something, anything, to grate his nerves. That just happened to be her. And while she understood that. She was still pissed.

The wind picked up, tousling her dark brown hair as she approached the park. It was so eerie at night. There were no children on the slides. There was no sound of laughter. There was nothing. Nothing except the sound of squeaking chains. The brunette pushed her hands into her pockets and started to approach the swing set.

"Hey," she greeted as she sat down on the swing next to Darry. She turned her hazel eyes downward toward the dirt under her shoes as she settled into the seat. She dug her heels into the dirt and started to shift her weight backwards and forwards.

"Hey," he replied, his voice hoarse.

Jacquelyn remained silent, because she wasn't sure what she was supposed to say. She knew that he was waiting for her to say something comforting, like she always did, but honestly she had nothing. Every time she would open her mouth to say something, she decided that it was a bad idea stayed quiet. If she was honest, she was waiting on him to apologize to her. She continued to shift her weight as she moved her hand towards her ring…

Jacquelyn stopped swinging suddenly and jumped up from the swing. "Shit!"

Darry's blue-green eyes flicked over to her. She wasn't the kind to curse. He watched as she began to turn her pockets inside out and feel down the sleeves of her shirt. "What?"

"No, no, no," she was mumbling as she felt her pockets again. "No, no, no!"

How on God's green Earth had she managed to lose her engagement ring? And Darry what was she going to say to him? 'Hey you know that ring you gave me. The one that belonged to your dead mother? Yeah, I lost it. I'm sorry'. Yeah, that would go over real well.

"Calm down," Darry told her. "Jacquelyn," his voice held such a commanding tone that she stood frantically feeling her pockets and looked at him. "What is wrong?"

"My ring," she confessed. "I don't have it. I don't know where it is."

For a moment, Jacquelyn thought that he was going to be very upset with her. However, he just reached into the pocket of his work pants and produced the ring. She'd never been so relieved to see a piece of jewelry in her entire life.

"You dropped it before you left," he told her as she plucked it from his hand. She remembered that now. She had been twisting it, and he'd shouted at her, and in her surprise she'd dropped it.

That's right. He'd yelled at her.

She crossed her arms over her chest, partially to show that she was still angry and partially to keep warm, and turned away from him. In response, she heard Darry stand. After a moment of rustling, he handed his plaid button down shirt to her. She took it, glancing over her shoulder and seeing him in a black t-shirt, and shrugged it on.

"Jacquelyn," he called to her as he settled back into the swing. She looked over her shoulder at him. "I," he paused before looking upward towards the moon. "What am I gonna do?" he questioned. She leaned on the swing set and looked down at him. "Jacquelyn?"

"Hmm?" she responded quietly.

"Tell me what I'm supposed to do."

The desperation is his tone, broke her heart. She wasn't sure what exactly he wanted her to say. She had no clue what to tell him to do. But she wanted to. She wanted to give him a step-by-step process. But what did she know? She didn't know how to deal with this. She didn't even know what she was supposed to do, how the hell was she supposed to know what he was supposed to do?

He'd asked her the same question in the same way when his parents died. What was he gonna do? Should he let the state spilt up his family so he could play football or should he give that all up? Clearly he picked the latter. However, she hadn't had an answer for him. Just like she didn't now.

"He won't go to Canada," he informed her.

"Soda's too much of a good person to dodge like that," she commented.

"Jacquelyn," he said, his tone gathering more desperation. "You've seen the news. You know about this war, this war's not even really ours to fight. He can't go."

"He's been drafted," she told him.

"I know that!" his voice broke despite the fact that he was yelling. "I fucking know that," he continued much quieter, his voice still wavering.

Christ.

For as long as she had known Darrell Curtis, she had only seem him cry a three or four times and those were all in the days following his parents deaths. The called him Superman for a reason. He was strong enough to handle anything. He tough enough to not cry and not falter when things happened. That's why he was the leader of the gang, even if he didn't really want that title. But even the strongest person has a breaking point. And apparently this was his.

The brunette squatted down in front of him, her hands on his knees. "Dare, I don't know that you're supposed to do." she told him as he pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. Probably to delay the tears falling. "Darry," she called to him. His eyes briefly meet her hazel ones. "Dare, I don't know."

That was the best answer she had for him.

Moisture dripped down to the back of her hands, signaling to her that the tears had finally broken through. For a long moment, she had no clue what to do or how to react to this. So she continued squatting in front of him with her hands on his knees until she could process what to do. Then she stood, pressing on his knees to get her weight up, and wrapped her arms around his neck, her lips pressed to the crown of his head. She inhaled slowly as the scent of tar engulfed her. She hadn't expected him to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her tighter against him.

"He's just a kid, Jacquelyn," he sobbed against her small frame.

She didn't have anything to say to that. She had no response. She just ran her fingers through his brown hair.

"He's a fucking kid. Why do they need him?"

"I don't know," she answered.

She hated feeling like this. All she wanted was to find a way to make him feel better, but she couldn't. She didn't know how. She didn't know what to do. She felt so damn helpless.

"I know what you're gonna do, Dare," she told him suddenly.

"What?" he questioned, his voice starting to steady.

The brunette took a step back, unwrapping her arms from his neck and then squatting in front of him again. "I know that you are gonna do what you've always done. You're gonna take care of Ponyboy and Soda. You're gonna make sure that they are both safe for as long as you can."

Darry snorted and for the first time held her gaze. He had never realized how lucky he was to have her. She was always there for him whenever she needed him. She'd been with him for the hardest parts of his life. "I'm sorry, I yelled at you earlier," he said gruffly, breaking eye contact with her.

"'S okay," she said nonchalantly. "We're a team now," she told him as she held out her hand to him. "We're a team and teams don't work if you close one person out. I know it's tough all over right now, but you can't shut me out." She pulled him out of the swing and pushed her hands into her pockets. "Should we head home?" she questioned.

Darry desperately wanted to stay here in the park on the swing set with Jacquelyn. This was normal. This is how life was supposed to be. He wasn't supposed to be thinking about if his little brother would make it to Christmas. He should have been focused on getting married and life with his fiancée. But life has a funny way of changing your focus.

"Yeah," he replied. "Yeah, let's go."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Here's the next chapter, yay! It's kind of a short chapter, compared to what I usually put out, but this chapter's just to move the plot along. They should return to the usual length on the next chapter. Let me know what you think and all that jazz by reviewing!

 **DISCLAIMER:** I don't own _The Outsiders._

* * *

"Jac."

The brunette was standing in the shower when she heard her name. She pulled her head from under the shower head and poked her head from inside the shower curtain. The steam was starting to fill the room, covering the mirror and floating in the air.

"Soda?" she called back over the sound of the water hitting the tub.

"I gotta talk to you," he told her.

Jacquelyn arched her eyebrow. "Now, Soda?" she questioned, running her hand over her face to keep the water from falling into her eyes. He answered in the affirmative as she knew he would. "The door's unlocked," she told him as she pulled her head back into the shower.

Soda opened the door, she heard it creak, and closed it. He then hopped up on to the counter, she'd heard him push her tube of eyeliner to the side. She could faintly see his silhouette through the liner and the curtain. He had his head in his hands, he'd taken to sitting like that more and more often over the past few days, at least since he'd gotten the draft notice.

"What's up?" she questioned as she poured a glob of shampoo into her hands and worked it into a lather.

"Take care of Ponyboy when I'm gone," he told her bluntly and suddenly. As if he knew that she was going to say something he continued talking hurriedly. "I know it's gonna be hard for them."

Clearly he meant Darry and Ponyboy.

Things had already started to tense between the two of them. Ponyboy had stopped doing his homework, since Soda got his letter. Instead, he had taken to hanging around Soda whenever he could. Generally, that meant that he would go straight from school to the DX, instead of going to work. That was actually how Darry had found out about it the day before. The Dairy Queen had called him, to check to make sure that Ponyboy was okay. The result was an all out screaming match between the oldest and the youngest Curtis. Darry telling him to get it together and Pony shouting whatever he felt like would make Darry shut up. She and Soda tried to calm the two of them down, Jacquelyn attempting to push Darry back to the bedroom and Soda trying to get Ponyboy to sit down. Neither of them were successful and eventually they both sat on the sofa and waited it out. As usual, the debate ended with both boys storming off, Darry to the bedroom, slamming the door behind him, and Ponyboy going outside for a smoke, also slamming the door behind him. She and Soda exchanged glances before heading off to calm the brothers. As for Darry, any little thing that Ponyboy did would set him off. Literally everything. Earlier in the morning, Ponyboy was looking for his shoes and Darry took it upon himself to chew out his brother for misplacing them. Needless to say, that was what she woke up to.

Jacquelyn ducked her head under the running water and let the water wash the soap out. "You didn't have to ask me to do that. I was gonna anyway."

"I know, just give him advice and stuff, you know, about girls and stuff," he told her.

Jacquelyn poked her head from inside the shower, water and soap streaming down her face and on to the floor. "You want me to give your brother sex advice?"

"Well, if he asks for it," Soda shrugged. "I have a box of-"

"Stop talking!" she shouted as she withdrew back into the shower.

Soda roared with laughter. One of the few times he had genuinely laughed since the notice came. "Seriously, there's," Jacquelyn started to sing loudly so to keep from heating him, "a box of condoms," he was now yelling over her yelling so that she could receive the information, "in the drawer on the nightstand on my side. I'll leave them there for him, and ya know..."

To that she launched the bottle of shampoo in her hand over the shower rod at him. She could almost see him wiggling his eyebrows.

The sudden commotion from behind the closed door of the bathroom was sure to draw attention. And it did.

"What are you doing?" Darry voice asked as he opened the door.

"Talking to Jacquelyn," Soda replied as he picked up the bottle of shampoo and sat it on the counter beside him. "Don't you knock?" Soda teased. Darry lightly smacked his arm.

"Jacquelyn," he called to her.

"Babe?" she called back teasingly as she stuck her head out of the shower. Her dark hair shiny with the conditioner.

"I gotta run to the school..."

Jacquelyn sighed dramatically and rolled her hazel eyes. Her hazel eyes met Soda's brown ones. "Football was always more important than me," she told Soda. "'Jacquelyn, I can't go to the ribbon tonight, I have a game. What do you mean skip it, I'm on team; I'm starting'," she teased as Darry reached into the shower, wet his hand, and flicked water on to her face.

"I gotta grab the playbook from the locker room," he told her. He looked between his brother and finacee. "Why is this were you chose to talk?" Darry questioned.

"I was already here when he wanted to talk," she shrugged. "Can you bring ice cream home?" she asked.

"It's 40 degrees outside, Jacquelyn," Darry informed.

"And?"

"It's too cold for ice cream," he told her.

Jacquelyn huffed and pulled her head back into the shower and ducked it under the water. She jumped back and gasped as she did. "The water is cold now," she whined as the water dripped down her face and back. "I hate you both."

Darry's silhouette shrugged as he walked out of the bathroom and grabbed the keys to his truck. "See ya," he said as he walked out of the door.

Soda sat silently for a moment before continuing the conversation they were having before. "Take care of him too," he said. "I know I don't have to tell you to do that, but take care of him." Soda was quiet again. "You're gonna be a Curtis when I get back," he told her quietly. So quietly that she almost didn't hear him.

Jacquelyn shut off the shower, "Close your eyes," she demanded as she reached out to the towel rack and pulled her towel. She pulled the green towel in to the shower and wrapped it around her torso. She then peeked around the curtain and saw Soda had his eyes closed. She stepped out of the shower and on to the bath mat. "Okay, you can open them now."

When Soda opened his eyes, she was leaning over rubbing at her hair vigorously with a second towel.

"I don't think that the wedding is even in the works yet," she told him. "You know I'm a simple girl, I only need simple things." Soda shrugged in her peripheral. "I also don't think that it's even an option to get married without you here." She flipped her hair back, water splashing the walls and the curtain. "What?" she questioned when she caught Soda's expression.

"You can't just put your life on hold, Jac," he told her. He seemed genuinely panicked and upset by her statement. He did not want her to put her life on hold for him. He didn't want to put off Darry's life with her so that the could wait for him to come back, if he came back. "No, get married even if I'm not here." Jaquelyn rolled her eyes. "Seriously."

It was rare that Soda had the expression that he had now, one of complete seriousness. He was such an easy going kid that when he looked like that, you knew that it was important. You had to listen. You had to take him seriously.

She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Okay," she replied, her eyebrows lowering slightly as a thoughtful expression crossed her face, "I will. Now, get out, I gotta get dressed." She demanded as she pushed him out of the door.

* * *

"Darry?"

Jacquelyn's hazel eyes were trained on the clock sitting on the dresser. The numbers were illuminated by the faint light from the streetlight outside.

 _1:46._

When she didn't get a response, she sighed deeply and settled into the pillow beneath her head. She closed her hazel eyes, listening to the sound of Darry's soft breathing, hoping that it would lull her to sleep.

"Dare?"

Her attempts to sleep were useless. There was something on her mind and she couldn't rest easy until she talked about it.

The man sleeping next to her seemed to hear her this time, because he rolled over and draped his arm around her and pulled her against his chest. His lips pressed against her dark brown hair.

"Babe?"

She felt awful for waking him.

"Hmm?" he responded almost reluctantly. If he was honest with himself, he was hoping that he could continue to ignore her calling him.

"Can I talk to you about something?" she questioned, her hands playing with a loose string on the comforter.

He opened one of his cobalt eyes and glanced at the clock lit by the streetlight outside. "It's almost two, Jacquelyn. Can we do this tomorrow?" he mumbled. He felt her shake her head against him and he sighed deeply. "Of course not."

Darry Curtis reached over her and turned on the lamp on the bedside table. The soft light illuminated the room, chasing the shadows into the corners. He then rolled over onto his back, pulling her with him until she had one of her legs on either side of his body. "What do you wanna talk about?"

"Soda said something to me today," she started carefully.

"I figured," he stated as he brought his forearm over his eyes as his other arm settled on her waist. "What he say?"

"He said that I was gonna be a Curtis when he got back," she informed him.

Darry lifted his arm form his face and glanced at her. "Okay," he replied letting his voice trail off. Was she trying to tell him something? Did she not want to get married?

"I told him that I didn't think that getting married without him here was an option." To her statement, Darry gave a shrug. While they hadn't talked about it, it was kind of understood. "Then he said that we should get married without him, if we wanted to. But I don't want to."

Darry continued to watch her through his blue-green eyes. He hadn't the slightest idea where this conversation was going.

Jacquelyn looked away from him and towards the clock. This was more difficult than she thought it would have been. "Well, I was just thinking, what if we got married while he was still here?"

Darry's eyebrows arched as every muscle in his body tensed. Get married while Soda was still here? "As in within the next eleven days?" he asked. There was no way that they could afford to put on a wedding in two weeks. No way.

"Saturday, actually," she supplied.

"Jacquelyn, there's no way that even you could put a wedding together in three days," he told her as he ran his hand down his face.

Jacquelyn rolled her hazel eyes and pushed her hair from her eyes. "You're right." She rolled over off of him and sat up. Her hands finding the loose string on the comforter again. "What if, and just hear me out. What if we go to the courthouse, get married, and have a legit one when he comes back?" Her hazel eyes were focused in on the string.

Darry couldn't say anything in response for a long time.

Damn this broad.

No matter how long he knew her, she always managed to surprise him. Always. He had never expected for her to say that. He had never expected for her to sacrifice something so big. Her wedding day. She was giving the attention and the dress and the venue for his little brother. Soda wasn't even her flesh and blood, but she was willing to give that up for him. Darry sat up as well, taking her hand from the string and lacing their fingers together.

"You want to do that?" he asked her.

"I can't help but think what if he doesn't come back?"

Darry was quiet for a long while. He didn't like to think about Soda not coming back, but he had to realize that it was an actual possibility. His brother could actually die in a jungle on the other side of the world. "Saturday?" he asked.

"Saturday," she echoed.

"That's kinda close to Valentine's Day, don't you think?" he teased.

"Well, that way you can never forget," she teased as she looked at their hands on the comforter.

"Saturday it is," he told her as he lay back down pulling her with him and turning off the light all in one motion. He held her against him in silence for a moment. "I guess Steve can't call you Ross anymore," he muttered into her hair.

"Steve!" she said in realization. "I have to talk to him."

"Gonan try to talk him off that ledge?" he questioned, his voice growing quiet. She couldn't tell if it was because of the topic or if I was because he was tired and starting to fall asleep again.

"Yeah," she answered. "Evie came in the other day and said that he said something about going to enlist. She's awful worried." Darry shrugged against her, inhaling the scent of her brown hair. "Gina's upset too." Even though his eyes were closed and he was behind her, she could feel him roll his eyes. "She's trying."

"Haven't seen her around in the past few day," he mumbled.

"She's letting him have family time," Jacquelyn supplied. "She's worried about him."

Darry chose not to say anything in response to that. And Jacquelyn chose not to push the subject. It really wasn't worth them getting into an argument over. He was right, Gina hadn't been around since Soda had gotten the draft notice. That might have had something to do with the fact that she may have told Gina to give them some space for a few days. It wasn't that she doubted her feelings for Soda, like Darry did. However, she was more concerned about Soda. He didn't really need another person sobbing all over him for the next week. He didn't need another person to say goodbye to. But he was his own person and he could go see Gina whenever she wanted.

"Dare?" she questioned. He sighed deeply.

"Yes, Jacquelyn," he responded.

She hesitated. "Nothing, nothing, so back to sleep."

"What, Jacquelyn?" he questioned.

"Nothing," she insisted as she burrowed into her spot under the blankets. "Go back to sleep."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Hello, dears! Sorry for the delay in the update. I was on vacation, but I did start on a few chapters. I have them brainstormed and all, I just have to take them off the outline and put them in the form of a chapter. I'm sorry for the shortness of the chapter, but it's really more of filler/keep things moving chapter.

 **DISCLAIMER** **:** I don't own _The Outsiders._

* * *

Gina screamed. Actually screamed when Jacquelyn shared the news with her. In the back room, there was a _thud_ and Russell appeared in the store front. Apparently the thud was him dropping a box of records so that he could run to the front of the store so that he could protect the girls.

However, when he appeared he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just the two girls standing behind the counter. Gina's baby blue eyes were wide and her hand were covering her mouth as she bounced on her toes.

"Everything ok?" he question hesitantly.

"No way," Gina gasped.

"Everything is fine," Jacquelyn replied as Gina wrapped her arms around her.

"Well we have to prepare," Gina said. "What are you gonna wear?" she pulled at the navy sweater Jacquelyn was wearing. "Oh, what are we gonna do with your hair?" Gina continued as she pulled at her friend's hair. "You need things!"

"What do I need?" Jacquelyn laughed.

"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a six pence in your shoe," Gina recited.

Russell made the connection. "You're getting married?" he asked.

"Yeah, Saturday," Jacquelyn said to answer Russell, before turning her attention back to Gina. "I don't wanna do all of that Gina."

"You CANNOT AND WIL NOT get married without those things," Gina bellowed.

"Where am I gonna find a six pence?" Jacquelyn questioned dropping her hands to her side dramatically.

"My mom has one! That's something borrowed and the six pence," Gina exclaimed.

"Where?" Russell questioned.

"At the courthouse. Nothing fancy," Jacquelyn told him as she turned to look at him. She couldn't quite read his expression. It was very guarded. When she met his gaze, he didn't look away. He just continued to watch her through his green eyes. A chill ran down her spine.

"Something blue?" Gina said, forcing her to break eye contact with Russell. "Something new? Something old?"

"I was gonna buy a dress," Jacquelyn said as she watched Russell walk back to the back room. "You know a white one," she saw Gina's eyes light up, "Nothing fancy. Just a white dress. So that would be new." Gina nodded marking that off her list. "I have a string of pearls, from my grandmother."

"Something old!"

Russell had appeared in the store front again this time carrying a box of records. Jacquelyn's eyes followed him as he walked. Until her eyes stopped on the clock.

"Gina, I gotta take lunch," she told her. "We'll talk after I come back okay?"

The brunette was out of the door before she could get an answer from her friend.

* * *

Jacquelyn pushed the door to the DX gas station open with her shoulder. The bell above the door tinkling as she did. The store was empty. However, she could hear voices and sounds from the garage area. One was approaching the heavy door that separated the store from the garage area.

"Hey," Soda greeted after looking through the window on the door. "Did you bring lunch?" he said as he reached out to snag the bag from her hands.

She'd stopped off at the Dairy Queen on her way to the DX. It was her lunch break after all. However, she didn't really think it would be fair for her to roll up to the DX with a burger and a soda and not bring on for the boys. So she'd gotten three.

"The sodas are in the car," she told him as she handed him her keys. "Fill her up while you're out there," she told him as he walked out of the front door and Jacquelyn pushed her way into the garage.

She always hated the smell of this place. It smelled like gas and oil and dust. It was also pretty much an explosion waiting to happen. The place was a giant fire hazard. She walked carefully around the bays peeking under the cars to see if there was anyone under them. There was a Chevy in the first bay, the engine taken out. In the second bay there was a Mustang jacked up, probably getting the tires rotated. In the third bay was a shiny red Plymouth with a pair of very dirty converse sticking from under it.

"Randle," she greeted as she tapped the hood of a red Plymouth. When he didn't respond, she placed her foot on the creeper under the car and pulled him from under it.

"The fuck, Ross," he snapped as pushed her foot off the creeper and rolled back under the car. Jacquelyn repeated her action. "Christ, what, Ross?"

"Gotta talk to you, Steve," she told him as she hopped up on to the roof of the Buick Rivera next to him in bay four.

"Evie send you?" he asked as he slipped back under the car. "Or Soda?"

"Neither," she admitted. "I know you, Steve." She was quiet and she let the sound of the wrench cranking fill the garage. "Coming to my wedding?" she asked.

"Don't have much of a choice," Steve replied.

"Don't have to come if you don't want," she informed. "I just think that if you're gonna go shipping off into Vietnam, you should come to my wedding before you go."

"What difference do it make? You're still gonna get married and Soda's still gonna go to war," Steve shouted back at her over the sound of the wrench.

"And his best friend is gonna be alone," she supplied.

"Not alone," Steve countered.

"So say you go with Soda, what about Evie and Two-Bit?" she questioned. "What about what happens if Soda comes back and you don't?" Steve roughly pushed himself from under the car and moved towards the jack. He was trying to ignore her and she wasn't having that. "How do you think he'll feel if he comes back and you don't? How would you feel if you came back and he didn't? You'd both feel like shit. Then what about Evie? What happens to her if you don't come back Steve? Or what happens if you come back and you're not able to be with her anymore, because you so damaged, so screwed up? Then you have to watch her move on and be with someone else while you're stuck."

"Shut up," Steve bellowed as he slammed the tire jack on to the ground.

Okay. Maybe she had gone in a little hard on him. However, this was the only way that Steve was going to get the picture. This was the only way to open his eyes to the reality of the situation.

"I'm sorry," Jacquelyn said as she slid off the hood of the Buick. "You just have to understand the severity of this decision, as well as take into consideration what Soda wants. He don't want you to go with him." She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Okay?"

Steve silently moved to pick up the tire jack and Jacquelyn let her hand fall from his shoulder. As he started to work on the car again, she sighed. Maybe she hadn't gotten through to him. She turned to start back into the shop.

"You think he's gonna be okay?" Steve asked as he glanced over his shoulder at her.

Jacquelyn stopped and placed her hand on the doorknob. "I hope he will be." That answer didn't seem to be enough for him, but it was all she could give him. "I brought you lunch," she told him. "Might wanna hurry before Soda eats it," she said as she tapped on the glass to let Soda know that she saw him reaching for a second burger.

Steve's reflection in the glass of the window shrugged. "Let him have it," he voiced.

Jacquelyn smiled. "You're a good friend," Stevie."

* * *

This wedding thing was getting a little out of hand.

Jacquelyn had been lying quiet peacefully on the living room sofa after she'd gotten out work. She was the first one home and she loved every moment of the silence. Darry had come in shortly after her. Instead of sitting in his usual spot, he sat on the sofa and allowed her to rest her head on his lap. Of course he wanted to talk about rings. Something that she honestly hadn't thought about. She told him that they could go to that pawn shop on 5th tomorrow and search. That was fine with him, because he pulled the newspaper off of the arm chair and started to read. Then Gina appeared, talking about a white dress that Jacquelyn just had to have. Jacquelyn responded with tomorrow. Of course, Gina was already a step ahead of her. She'd already purchased it and it was in her closet. Then to add to it, Soda and Steve came in with Ponyboy tailing behind them. It seemed that she had gotten through to Steve earlier. Soda greeted Gina as if she hadn't ben MIA for the past few days. Finally Two-Bit with a pack of gum that he'd stolen.

And somehow the topic of conversation was the wedding. What to wear? Jacquelyn replied with a teasing not your dirty Converse. What time? I'll let you know later. And finally, is there booze at the after party?

"What after party?" she and Darry questioned together.

"If there's no booze, I'm not going," Two-Bit informed.

"Well, we know how to keep him away," Jacquelyn teased. Two-Bit glared at her. "I guess we can have something here?" Jacquelyn questioned as her glanced up at Darry, who had not actually stopped reading his paper. He shrugged. "There will be booze here, Two-Bit."

"Do I have to wear a tie?" Two-Bit asked.

"Well, honey, I'm not marrying you, so you don't even have to come," she told him honestly as she reached over and pinched his cheek.

"Who am I to turn down free booze?" Two-Bit teased as he pinched her cheek in return.

Jacquelyn pulled away from him. He always pinched hard. "Someone that I wish would go away," she replied as stuck her tongue out at him. He looked mildly hurt and Jacquelyn rolled her hazel eyes but didn't respond. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Gina open her mouth to start speaking. "No more talking about this wedding. Seriously, it's not that big of an event. Seriously." Gina opened her mouth again and Jacquelyn shushed her again. "No."

Taking the hint, Gina huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, but she was silent. Finally. She wasn't talking about the wedding. Instead, she was wringing her hands together and watching Soda from the corner of her eye. Jacquelyn glanced over at Two-Bit, who was also watching Soda. And so were Ponyboy and Steve. The brunette chanced a glance at Darry, who was doing the same thing, just from over the top of his paper.

Shit.

Soda. They were focusing in on her wedding because they didn't want to focus in on the fact the Soda was leaving in a few days. She hadn't even thought of it that way. She hadn't even thought about how the fact that she was getting married was serving as a distraction. She just knew that she was tired of talking about it.

"Alright, Gina," the brunette said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. "What were you going to say?"


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** HI! I am sorry for going MIA! I just had a huge writers block with this story and no matter how hard I tried to get over it, I couldn't. There's like twelve drafts of this chapter in my computer because I couldn't make up my mind on how I wanted it to go and how I wanted things to play out. But, here it is. I'm in the middle of studying for my finals, so there might not be another update for another few weeks – so many papers to write and not enough time to write them. But, I haven't forgotten about this, promise. Enjoy this chapter!

 **DISCLAIMER:** I don't own the Outsiders.

* * *

Ponyboy had his first nightmare on Friday.

He had fallen asleep early in the day. After coming home from work, he skipped out on dinner, something that seemed to cause Darry and Soda a little concern, and went straight to bed. An hour or so later, after all the dishes were clean, when Darry was sitting in his chair reading the paper, Jacquelyn had taped on the door and saw that he was passed out cold on top of the sheets. She didn't bother to wake him, she just tugged off his shoes, that were going to need to be replaced soon, and tossed a blanket over him before returning to the living room. Soda. Steve, and Two-Bit had gone out. Drag racing at the Ribbon, Steve had said as he practically dragged Soda out of the door. That left she and Darry lounging on the sofa; Darry flipping through a list of plays and players from the previous season and Jacquelyn laying with her head on his lap flipping through the channels.

She'd settled on Gunsmoke. She knew that if she kept flipping, no matter how distracted he _seemed_ to be, Darry would take the remote and pick something for her. Which usually was whatever sporting event was on at the moment.

The sound was very subtle to begin with and she was sure that she had imagined it or it was something that was coming from the television. However, as it persisted during a small shootout, she allowed it to have more of her attention. She glanced up briefly to see if Darry had noticed, but he was preoccupied with the book in his hand.

He did, of course, notice the next sound. A sort of strangled half-sob, half-shout, coming from down the hall. He was up and down the hall, discarding the book on the coffee table, before she could even really sit up. By the time she managed to stand, Darry had already flipped on the light in the room where Ponyboy was.

"Jacquelyn." he called down the hall.

"Yeah?" She stopped walking, the tone of his voice indicated that he wanted her to do something.

"Get some water."

The brunette slipped into the kitchen and grabbed a cup from the cabinet. She snagged a few pieces of ice from the freezer, noticing that they needed to go shopping, dropped it into the cup and then filled it with water. Quietly, she made her way back towards Ponyboy's room and peeked into the door.

Darry was sitting on the edge of the bed, running his fingers through Ponyboy's now messy hair and rocking him back and forth. He was mumbling something to him and from her distance she couldn't exactly make out what he was saying. However, she could hear the word 'baby' being uttered repeatedly.

She continued to hang back in the doorway, feeling awkward.

Darry glanced up at her briefly and motioned for her to come into the room, with his free hand. She held back for a moment longer, not wanting to feel like she was interrupting. This was the first time that she felt like she was intruding in the family dynamic since she moved in with them. Darry looked over at her again and saw that she hadn't moved. There was a brief moment, where he was torn between speaking to his fiancee, who he could tell was feeling uncomfortable, and continuing to comfort Ponyboy, who had stopped crying at this point. However, it passed without a second thought. As important as Jacquelyn was to him, Ponyboy was his brother. So in lieu of breaking the calming mood that he had created around Ponyboy by raising his voice above a whisper. He just gestured for her to come into the room again. And this time she did. Softly, padding over to him and sitting on the edge of the bed next to him.

"Ponyboy," Darry said. His voice was very quiet and Jacquelyn could tell that it was taking a great deal effort to speak with his voice that low. Even when Darry wasn't yelling his voice projected and carried.

The youngest Curtis turned his red rimmed eyes towards the eldest Curtis.

Once again, Jacquelyn Ross felt like an outsider. She felt like she shouldn't even have been in the room with them. As Ponyboy sat up, placing himself between she and Darry, she handed the cup of water to Darry and stood off the edge of the bed. Darry glanced at her as she made her way out of the room, but there was nothing that he could do at this moment to comfort them both.

Half an episode of Gunsmoke later, Darry appeared in the hallway. He reached into the room he'd just left and flicked the light off before closing the door behind him. '

"Hey," he greeted the brunette lying on the sofa as he ran his hand over his face. In response, she swung her legs off the sofa and allowed him a place to sit. "Are you alright?"

The brunette scoffed, never taking her attention away from Gunsmoke. Why was her condition even in question? She wasn't the one that had had a nightmare. She was fine. "I'm fine," she confirmed. They were quiet for a moment. "How's he?" she questioned.

Darry's eyes turned towards the door. "I think that he'll be okay," he replied after moment. He leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes.

"I don't think that he really has any other option, but to be okay," she replied quietly. "I don't think that any of us has any other option but to be okay."

Before Darry could respond to her the front door, swung open on its hinges. The occupants of the living room looked over towards the door immediately, a harsh look in both of their eyes.

"Why are you here, Jacquelyn?"

The brunette was caught a little off guard, by the use of her full first name from Sodapop Curtis. He wasn't the type to call her by her full first name.

"What do you mean?"

"You can't see the bride before the wedding," Soda continued.

To that Jacquelyn laughed. "You sound like Gina."

Gina had been pestering her all day, literally all day, about how she couldn't go home. She couldn't see Darry before the wedding. She went on and on about bad luck and ruining the marriage. About halfway through the day, Jacquelyn had taken to just ignoring anything that Gina said that sounded like it might have been related to the wedding. Eventually, Gina had picked up on what she was doing and just gave up on talking to her about the wedding all together.

"Well, she's right."

Jacquelyn rolled her eyes. "Well I'm already here and I'm comfortable. We'll just have to cross the bad luck bridge when we get to it." Soda's eyes were hard as he looked at Jacquelyn. "You're kidding." The brunette moved quickly, turning to look out of the window behind her. In the driveway, she saw Gina Field's vehicle. "You're kidding!" she repeated, still in shock at what was happening. Gina was using Sodapop to get her out of the house. "This is ridiculous."

From outside, Gina honked her horn. "Go!"

Jacquelyn fought the idea of going for another moment. On one hand, she lived here and she shouldn't have to leave because of bad luck. She also didn't really want to spend a night away from Darry. On the other hand, she saw that Gina was trying so hard to give her the full wedding experience, even if they were just going to the court house. And she appreciated that. After thinking everything over, Jacquelyn stood from the couch and started to gather her things.

"You're leaving?" both Darry and Soda asked, the shock in their tone identical.

"Yeah," she replied as she walked down the hall to throw some overnight things into her bag. She had already left her dress and all the things she would need for the wedding day at Gina's place, so she just needed an overnight bag.

"I didn't think that it would be that easy," she heard Soda say to his brother.

"She's full of surprises," she heard Darry answer.

Unable to decide if she should be offended or not, Jacquelyn shouldered her bag and started out of the bedroom just as she did she heard the front door swing open and shut again. With an irritated sigh, she called to the front of the house. "Fields, calm down. I'm coming, alright?"

"I think that it's you that needs to calm down," the voice answered, and it wasn't one that belonged to Gina.

Jacquelyn looked up quickly, completely caught off guard. "Tim," she said after a moment of looking at the young man before her. It had been a while since she had seen Tim. Sometime during the middle of her senior year, when she'd gone to his house to get Dally after a rumble. While Tim Shepard was a Greaser, their circles didn't run close at all. She'd only met Tim through Dallas Winston. He was greasier than she preferred. "Sorry, I thought that you were someone else."

"Clearly."

"To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?" Jacquelyn asked.

"Getting married tomorrow, right?" he posed. To that Jacquelyn nodded and readjusted her bag on her shoulder. "And the kid is shipping out soon?"

"Next Sunday," Soda answered through gritted teeth.

"I just wanted to wish my best, to you both," Tim said awkwardly. Tim was never the one to express any feelings to anyone. So to hear him just out and say that was very uncharacteristic of him. However, maybe losing Soda to the draft had a bigger effect on the Greaser community than she'd thought, even the greasiest of them.

She took three steps towards Tim Shepard, the tough Greaser, and hugged him. She felt every muscle in Tim's body tense as she did. She was sure he glanced in Darry's direction to see if this was okay. He didn't even relax when he patted her on the back. After a moment, Jacquelyn released him and stepped back, a lopsided smile on her lips that would have put Soda's to shame. "Thank you, Tim," she told him. "There's a get together here after if you wanna come. You are more than welcome."

Surprise flicked through his eyes. _He more than welcome._ He hadn't been more than welcome anywhere, ever. Tim shook his head. "No. It, uh, wouldn't be the same..." Tim stopped talking immediately, realizing what he was about to say. It was true what they said about Jacquelyn Ross, he thought to himself. She makes you want to talk to her. Tim took a step back and turned towards the door. "Yeah, well, just be safe kid," Tim told Soda, trying to regain his cool appearance.

Soda grunted in acceptance.

"I miss him too, Tim," Jacquelyn voiced as she adjusted her bag on her shoulder. _I miss Dallas too, Tim._

Tim's hand froze over the door handle and he inhaled audibly. "You're a sharp broad, aren't you?" he questioned as he pushed the door open, popped his collar and walked off the porch.

As if nothing had happened, she leaned over the kiss Darry, who was looking at her as if she had two heads. "What?"

"Why did you - ?"

"Everyone needs a hug sometimes," Jacquelyn told him as she adjusted her bag and walked towards the door. "I'll see you both tomorrow," she commented as she grabbed her shoes and opened the door. "Bye!"

After she left, Soda stood watching the spot where she'd been standing. It took him a while to formulate what he wanted to say. "She's -"

"I told you, she's full of surprises," Darry repeated before opening the playbook again.

"She just gets people. She just knows. She and Tim were having their own separate conversation just now, weren't they?" Soda asked as he looked over at his brother. "We heard one thing but they were talking about something else."

"Something like that," Darry agreed.

Soda was quiet again, looking down at his shoes. "She reminds me of mom."

Darry stopped flipping through the pages of the playbook and turned his eyes to his brother. Jacquelyn reminded him of mom? Darry chuckled and closed the book all together. "She doesn't, doesn't she?" he agreed as he let his attention fall on the television set.


	9. Chapter 9

"Jacquelyn," Gina cheered as she leaned over the arm of the sofa and shook her friend. The brunette stirred from her sleep, opening a hazel eye to look at the blond, who already had her makeup on. "Let's go you'll only be Jacquelyn Ross for," she looked at the clock on the wall, "four more hours."

"Then let me sleep for another hour," the bride mumbled.

"It's nine already, I've been up since eight. Let's go!"

Jacquelyn groaned, sitting up and stretching. "Fine, fine." Gina pulled her up and pushed her towards the bathroom. "I can walk on my own," the dark haired girl whined, as she tried to regain control, something she never had, over the situation. Gina said something about her moving too slowly and pushed her into the bathroom.

"Shower. Wash your hair, shave your legs-"

"Gina, I know what to do in the shower," Jaquelyn said before closing the door in the blonde's face as she said something about coffee. "Make it strong!" she shouted over the running water of the shower.

* * *

"You're kidding me."

Darrell Curtis looked over the top of his newspaper at his oldest little brother. There was a half amused, half disapproving look in his eyes as he watched Darry. After a moment, Darry looked back down at the article he'd been reading in the paper and finished it off, before folding the paper shut and looking at his brother.

"What?"

"You're reading the paper?" Soda said as if it were some complex idea.

"I read the paper every morning, Soda."

"You're getting married and you're reading the paper!" It was an outraged exclamation at this point.

"Well, I was, until you started shouting," Darry teased, rising from his chair. "What would you like me to be doing, little buddy?" the eldest boy asked as he placed his hand on his brother's shoulder.

Soda's expression became fully amused. "You could shave for starters." Darry elbowed his little brother's side. "Just for starters." Soda moved around him and stepped into the kitchen. "You're kidding! You made breakfast too?"

"Don't eat it if you are so offended by it," Darry shouted from the bathroom as he opened the medicine cabinet to retrieve his razor.

* * *

"Sit still," Gina demanded as she ran the brush through Jacquelyn's long hair. "More still than that."

Jacquelyn let loose a deep breath and closed her eyes. Gina was about to drive her insane. She was fully aware that Gina meant well. Really she was. However, all this fuss and primping was going to drive her crazy. Not to mention that Gina was about to pull all of her hair out in the process of styling it.

"What are you doing to it?" the girl asked, bringing her second cup of coffee to her lips.

"A braided bun," she replied as she ran the comb through her friend's hair to part it.

Jacquelyn sat quietly, and as still as she could so that Gina could do her hair. Gina was surprised at how calm the brunette was. She alway imagined that on her own wedding day, she would be a complete wreck. Frazzled and emotional. That was how all the other bride's she knew were. However, here was Jacquelyn, sipping on her coffee and acting as if today were no different than yesterday or the day before. It was surprising to her.

Jacquelyn scratched the back of her neck, putting her hand in Gina's way, which resulted in her getting a slap to the back of the hand. "I had an itch, Gina."

"Well, you have to wait to scratch it." With a dramatic sigh, Jacquelyn settled back into her silence with the warm coffee cup in her hands. "Are you excited?" Gina posed after a beat of silence.

Jacquelyn smiled, lowering the cup of coffee from her lips. "Yeah." She fingered her engagement ring. "More than I could even begin to explain."

* * *

"Darry," it was Ponyboy this time. "Darry, I can't find my dress pants."

The groom briefly turned his azure eyes to his youngest brother before placed the blade of the razor on his chin and running it over the last bit of shaving cream on his face. Darry turned on the water and splashed it on his face.

"They should be folded on the washer," he replied as he rubbed his face with a towel, feeling the cloth against the smoothness of his face. "With mine and Soda's."

Ponyboy turned to leave but then turned to look at Darry again. He was so calm and put together. Granted, that's how he always was, but even on his wedding day? He'd expected some sort of emotion from him. Perhaps he would give off some sort of nervous vibe or something. But instead, he was just as stoic and calm as usual.

"What?" Darry questioned, looking at his youngest brother after he ran the towel over his face one last time.

Ponyboy held his tongue and shook his head, walking towards the washer. While Darry draped the towel over his shoulder and made his way to the kitchen for his second cup of coffee. When Ponyboy appeared again, he had his pants hanging over his arm and a question on his lips.

Darry didn't even have to turn to face him to know that. "What, Ponyboy?" Darry questioned, a hint of humor in his voice, as he brought the mug to his lips.

"Are you excited?"

Darry looked at his brother over the rim of his mug, the corners of his lips lifting slightly. "Yeah."

* * *

We have to leave soon," Gina announced for the third time in the past five minutes. She frantically moved about her house, pushing her earrings into their holes and applying the last bit of lipstick to her lips. She pulled her fingers through her blond hair, letting the curls spring back into place, and then moving to find her shoes. "By soon, I mean, like in two minutes." When she didn't get a response, she sighed loudly and walked back to her bedroom where she'd left Jacquelyn. "Hey, do you hear me? I said we gotta-"

Gina's voice trailed off as she walked into the bedroom and saw Jacquelyn standing in the middle of the room in her white dress. The brunette turned to look at her, an amused glint in her hazel eyes. "I heard you, and I've been ready since you told me that we needed to leave soon five minutes ago."

Gina placed her hand on the doorframe and slipped on her shoes before walking over to Jacquelyn and tucking some free strands of hair into the bun."You look amazing," Gina said. The blond hesitated, looking at her friend. "But..."

"But?"

"It'll only take a second. Sit down," Gina said, pushing her into the chair in her bedroom.

* * *

"Sodapop, put on your shoes so we can leave," Darry shouted down the hall. He looked at his reflection as he started to tie his tie. When he didn't hear any movement, he sighed. "Sodapop. If you aren't ready by the time I get done, I'll skin you, ya' hear?"

"Yeah, yeah," was his response.

By the time he finished knotting his tie, Ponyboy was fully dressed and sitting on the sofa, reading a copy of The Great Gatsby, and Soda was pulling on a scuffed dress shoe. Darry frowned.

"I'm ready. No need for that face," Soda said.

Before he could speak, the door swung open and Two-Bit bounded in holding a bottle of whiskey, followed closely by Steve and Evie. Both boys were dressed in button down shirts, granted Two-Bit's was mostly unbuttoned. Two-Bit placed his hand on Darry's shoulder and pushed the whiskey towards him.

"Take your last drink as a free man!" Two-Bit shouted, earning a peel of laughter from the other boys in the room.

"Two-Bit back off," Darry said, as he tried to push the boy with the whiskey away. However, he didn't budge. "Two-Bit."

"Take the drink, Darrell." When Darry refused again, he took a drink from the bottle, then passed it to Soda, who took a drink without being asked. From Soda, it went to Ponyboy, who took a drink despite the warning glance from Darry. Ponyboy scrunched his face as he handed the bottle to Steve, who took a drink as well. Then the bottle was in Darry's hands. "Take the drink!"

Darry had no choice, he realized that now. With a deep sigh, he brought the bottle to his lips and took a long drink, egged on by the boys in the room.

"Let's get you hitched, handsome," Two-Bit shouted as he took the bottle from Darry.

* * *

"How could you almost be late for your own wedding?" Gina said as the two girls walked into the courthouse.

Jacquelyn stopped in her tracks, just inside the door and glared at her best friend. "That was entirely your fault!" After Gina had seen her in the dress, she decided that the hairstyle wouldn't do. It was too elegant for such a simple dress. So she'd taken it down and started from scratch, curling her long brunette tresses and pulling them into a half up, half down style.

"It looks better this way," she told her.

"Hey."

Jacquelyn rolled her hazel eyes and turned her attention to the person who'd spoken to her. It was Evie, dressed in a simple green dress. Her hair was pulled back off her face and her green eyes were bright.

"You look nice," Evie complimented as she walked towards them.

"Thank you." Jacquelyn blushed.

"Soda sent me to get you. We heard you down the hall," she teased, motioning for them to follow her. "Do you want some grand announcement?"

"Christ, no," Jacquelyn groaned. "I've had enough fuss for today," she shot a pointed look at Gina, who shrugged in a nonchalant manner.

"It's your wedding day, don't most people want to be fussed over on their wedding day?" Evie asked as they rounded the corner.

"She doesn't," Gina supplied. "She made getting her ready impossible."

Before Jacquelyn could respond in any type of manner, her eyes found Darry, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest in the middle of scolding Two-Bit. His brow was creased and he looked somewhere between displeased and amused. Dressed in a white shirt with a black tie, hair greased back. Handsome as ever.

"Look, Darry, I'm just saying that..." He let his sentence trail off as he glanced over in her direction briefly. He then did a double-take before whistling. "You clean up good, Ross."

"Ah, thanks, Two-Bit, but please don't let me interrupt you getting scolded," she told him.

Darry turned his eyes from Two-Bit and to his bride, who wasn't exactly watching him. Ponyboy had stolen her attention with his crooked tie. Her slender fingers moved quickly, untying it and then starting to tie it again. She was a vision in white, he'd give her that. A high-collared white dress. Her torso was covered in a lace type of fabric that started at the collar and continued down. If he looked closely enough he could see her skin under the dress. A simple white belt separated the lace fabric on her torso from the chiffon skirt of the dress.

"Hey," she greeted from somewhere close to him. His eyes focused in on her and it was then that he realized that she was standing next to him, mimicking him in leaning on the wall.

"Hey," he greeted in return his azure eyes still on her.

"What?" she asked, feeling almost self-conscious under his gaze.

Darry read her like a book and gave a half laughed. "You're perfect," he told her.

Jacquelyn blushed a bright pink. "You're pretty okay yourself."

* * *

"We are gathered here today to share in the joy of this occasion, which should be one of the more memorable and happiest days of your lives. The joining of Darrell and Jacquelyn in matrimony. If you two or anyone else has just cause, as to why these two should not be joined together, speak now or forever hold your peace."

The room was quiet. After all, it was just the gang, Evie, and Gina, who of them would dare say to Darry that he had a reason that he shouldn't marry Jacquelyn. In addition, who in their right mind would say that they had a problem with Jacquelyn marrying Darry with Gina in the room?

"From this day onward you must come closer together than ever before, you must love one another in sickness and in health, for better and for worse, but at the same time your love should give you the strength to stand apart, to seek out your unique destinies, to make your special contribution to the world which is always part of us and more than us.

"Being assured that you are aware of the meaning of this ceremony, I will now ask you to repeat the marriage vows. "

Jacquelyn looked over at him from the corner of her eye as she bit her bottom lip and rocked back on her heels. His grip tightened on her hands, an unconscious action, as she did holding her steady so that she didn't manage to fall over. His azure eyes fell on her as she rocked forward to the flats of her feet. Her hazel eyes met his and she smiled, an amused glint in her eyes.

"Do you Darrell Shane Curtis, take this woman, Jacquelyn Kelly Ross, to be your lawful wedded wife, to love, honor and cherish her through sickness and in health, through times of happiness and travail, until death do you part?"

As if he had any other option. Even if they weren't standing here in the courthouse and taking these vows, he would have done the same. "I do."

"Place the ring upon her finger and repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed."

He slipped a simple silver band onto her finger, handed to him by Sodapop, and echoed the government official.

"Do you, Jacquelyn Kelly Ross, take this man Darrell Shane Curtis, to be your lawful wedded husband, to love, honor and cherish him through sickness and in health, through periods of tranquility and travail, until death do you part?"

Jacquelyn half smiled, the corners of her lips turning upwards. As if she would have made any other choice. In the car, Gina had asked if she was nervous. To that Jacquelyn had laughed and shaken her head. Her response came more easily than she had expected: 'No. I've been waiting for this for longer than you know'. "I do."

"Place the ring upon his finger and repeat after me, With this ring, I thee wed."

She slipped a thick silver band onto his finger, handed to her by Gina, and echoed the government official.

"You came to me as two single people and you will now leave as a married couple, united to each other by the binding contract you have just entered. Your cares, your worries, your pleasures and your joys you must share with each other. In accordance with the law of Oklahoma and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the law of Oklahoma, I do pronounce you husband and wife."

The official closed the book he'd been holding. "You may now kiss the bride."

So he did.

* * *

 **A/N:** *waves* I swear, I get the most random muse for this story. It's not even funny. But here's another chapter. If you all are still around, I'll try to post more often. Anyway, the moment we have all be waiting for. A wedding. When I was writing this chapter, I didn't really realize this, but the separate sections with Jac and Darry parallel one another. I wish I could say I did it on purpose, to show how in sync they are even when they aren't together, but I can't; it just sort of happened that way. Anyways, let me know what you think. Okay?


	10. Chapter 10

"Oh! Jacquelyn!" Gina exclaimed over the dull roar of conversation in the living room. From her perch on the arm of Darry's armchair, the brunette bride arched her eyebrow letting Gina know that she was acknowledged. "I have something for you."

"Oh?" Jacquelyn questioned her tone somewhere between curious and not really wanting to know what it was. She watched as Gina rummaged around in her purse until she produced something small.

"Catch."

Jacquelyn opened her hand, removing it from the neck of the beer she was nursing and caught Gina's underhand pass. It was a small rectangular object with a pin on the back: a nametag? She flipped it over in her hand to read the front. _Jacquelyn Curtis, Assistant Manager_. "I don't... Oh. _Oh!_ " she laughed, closing her hand around the nametag.

"What?" Soda asked, appearing beside her snatching the beer from her hand.

"It's a nametag," Jacquelyn laughed. "With my new name on it."

"I wanna see!" Soda demanded, prying his sister-in-law's fingers open. Jacquelyn relaxed her fingers, it was just easier that way. "Is this the first thing with your new name on it?"

"Aside from the certificate," she answered as she reached for her beer. Soda evaded her and almost sent her tumbling off the arm of the sofa. Darry, who was playing a game of poker with Steve and Two-Bit, caught the belt of her dress and pulled her back. Holding her palm open for her nametag, she looked down at Darry's hand. "Oh," she exhaled, lowering her eyebrows.

"Hush," was her response.

"I think-"

"Hush." Jacquelyn pouted, crossing her arms over her chest and looking much like a small child. He was leaning forward, elbows on his knees, with the first two buttons of his shirt undone and his tie hanging loosely around his neck. The corners of Darry's lips turned up as he watched her from the corner of his eye. "I'll raise you three," Darry said. Jacquelyn frowned and turned to Soda, who had passed her nametag off to Ponyboy.

"Fold," Steve said as he placed his cards on the table.

"Ponyboy, can I?" she asked holding her hand open for the nametag. "If I leave it with the two of you I'll never see it again."

"Can you?" he echoed.

Jacquelyn rolled her eyes, but left her hand out for the item, and looked back at the poker game to see that Darry was collecting the pot, while Two-Bit looked highly upset. "How? You had an awful hand!" she exclaimed.

Two-Bit mumbled something under his breath about cheating and then spoke clearly. "He never bluffs like that." The boy then looked at Jacquelyn pointedly, throwing a handful of cards at her. "You've been a terrible influence on him, young lady!"

Her hazel eyes watched the cards flutter to the ground before responding. "I hope you plan on picking those up."

"Don't be a sore loser, Two-Bit," Darry added as he leaned back in the chair.

Soda appeared at her side again, placing her nametag in her hand, and handing her a beer, which Darry took. "That's fine, Darry. I didn't want that beer anyway."

"You let two get warm already, not gonna let you waste another one," he told her before taking a long drink from the bottle. He then held it out for her. However, she had removed herself from her perch on the arm of the chair and started off down the hall. "Where are you going?" he called after her.

"To get my own beer," she shouted back.

First, she went to the bedroom to put the new nametag on the dresser next to her old one, _Jacquelyn Ross_ and _Jacquelyn Curtis,_ and then headed to the kitchen. She reached into the icebox and took out another beer. Knowing that she wasn't going to be able to open it on her own, she trudged back into the living room and handed it off to Darry. With an amused gleam in his eye, he leaned forward and popped the top off the bottle and handed it back to her.

Before she could sit down, Soda had wrapped his arms around her torso, squeezing her. Her grip tightened on the neck of the beer and she tried to take an inhale but failed. "So'," she managed. "So', I can't breathe, kid. I'm literally suffocating."

His grip on her torso loosened, just slightly and he placed his chin on her shoulder. "We finally have a sister."

How could she be upset with him, playfully or not, after he said that? His tone was excited with a bit of relief in it. As if he didn't expect to have one. As if he didn't expect Darry to marry anyone, yet along her. Jacquelyn turned her head a bit to look at him, resting his chin on her shoulder with that charming smile on his lips.

"You're being a real chick right now," she told him with a teasing laugh, even though the look of her face was soft. To that, he kicked her behind her knee. "Ow!" She rolled her eyes and once again struggled to free herself from his grasp. "Lemme go."

Soda laughed and pulled her closer to him. "What time do you want us to split?" he questioned into her ear.

"What?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her and winked. In response, her face went completely red.

"What's wrong with your face, Ross?" Steve asked, looking away from Evie. He had made it perfectly clear that he was not going to stop calling her Ross, no matter what her actual last name was.

Her face grew even redder once she was called out on it.

"Soon?" Soda continued.

Redder.

"Soda, what are you saying to her?" Darry asked.

He shrugged and she took the opportunity to break free of his hold on her. She stumbled forward towards Darry's chair and ducked her head, pressing the beer to her face to cool it. When she looked up, her face was a light pink and not a vicious red.

"I hate you."

"Eight, good?" he continued, unashamed.

"Eight?" Darry echoed. Jacquelyn covered his mouth with her hand, before leaning over to tell him what Soda was talking about. His laugh erupted from behind her hand and she rolled her eyes completely irritated with the two eldest Curtis boys. "That's fine."

Jacquelyn's face was red as she perched back on the arm of the chair.

* * *

"Ponyboy," Jacquelyn said as she stepped onto the porch barefoot, but still in her white dress. He looked over his shoulder at her from his place on the stairs.

"Yeah?" he responded with a smoldering cigarette between his lips. She leaned on the railing, hazel eyes looking over the street. Steve was leaning on the door of Evie's car, tie undone and hanging around his neck. Evie was standing next to him, the corners of her lips turned down in a frown, but her green eyes dancing, letting it be known that was a playful frown. Steve rolled his eyes and moved off the door, opening it for her. "So," Ponyboy said.

"So," she echoed, looking down at him with a half-smile on her lips. "You're not gonna get all wussy on me too, are you?"

Ponyboy looked as if he wanted to hit her, but refrained. "No."

He took another drag on his cigarette and then held it up to her. Jacquelyn shook her head, watching him as he brought it back to his lips and took another drag.

"I'm glad Darry's happy," he told her quietly. His tone reluctant, as if he didn't quite want to tell her that. "And you know, er, I'm happy you're here." He looked away from her, focusing on the ground at the base of the porch.

Jacquelyn laughed, kneeling to hug him around the neck, and he froze. "I'll never tell your secret," she told him before standing and ruffling his hair a bit.

He scowled at her and shooed her away with the hand holding the cigarette and then tried to brush his hair back into place. "Cool it with that."

She moved by him, walking down the stairs to Steve, who was coming up the driveway from saying good-bye to Evie, she picked up the late shift so that she could have the day off. Steve's hands were deep in his pockets as he walked. Jacquelyn stepped carefully on the gravel, but quickly as she made her way to him.

"Steve."

"Ross."

She draped her arm around his shoulder and smiled. "Would your girl be jealous?" she questioned playfully, pressing her side to his.

"No," he told her. She looked offended, bringing her hand to her chest. "Not that you're not, you know good looking," he rubbed the back of his neck in a manner that showed he was uncomfortable talking about her like that, "but you know, as well as we do, you only have eyes for Superman. You're no threat to her, or anyone else, especially at this point." He gestured to the ring on her finger.

"Thank you?" she said with her eyebrow arched. "I think."

"You're welcome, Ross."

"Just one time," she told him.

"Huh?" She looked up at him, batting her eyelashes and he groaned loudly. "Curtis," he mumbled under his breath. Jacquelyn noted a faint blush on his cheeks.

She smiled. "Doesn't it fit?"

"Ross fits better."

She shrugged. "Whatever. I don't mind it's up to you, kiddo."

"Don't call me a kid."

She pulled her arm off his shoulder and stepped onto the porch, moving around Ponyboy and stuck her tongue out at Steve, safe behind Ponyboy. "No problem," she took a step back and into the house, "kiddo." Laughing as Steve, shouted her name from outside.

* * *

Her dark hair fanned out over the pillow, her own version of a halo. Rolling over onto her side, her halo disappearing and morphing into a waterfall over her back as she propped herself up on her elbow holding the bed sheet to her chest. Hazel eyes falling on his form, watching the rise and fall of his chest.

"Hmm?" the question was formed somewhere deep in his chest. When he didn't get a response, his azure eyes opened focusing on her, all dark hair and hazel eyes and pink lips. He rolled onto his side as well, arm behind his head. "Yes?"

"Nothing."

Jacquelyn with a slight pink tone to her skin and a vicious red mark on the tender skin of her neck. His Jacquelyn.

"Nothing?"

His fingers brushed against the side of her throat as he pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"Nothing." she agreed.

Darry with his muscles and broad shoulders. Darry Curtis with his deep azure eyes. Darry with his short, ungreased hair.

He caught the hand holding the sheet in his and pulled her towards him. Her bare skin meeting his and sending a familiar and pleasant sensation through his body. And to think, a few months ago, the feeling of her body against his kept him up at night.

Darry, who always smelled like tar. Darry, whose heartbeat hers was always in sync with. Darry with his tough exterior. Her Darry.

His fingers found their way between hers, thumb tracing over her wedding band.

"Are we allowed to be this happy?" Darry questioned.

"Huh?"

"Are we allowed to be this happy with everything that's going on."

Jacquelyn laughed, turning her gaze up to him. "With everything that's going on, I think that we can be this happy for a day. Besides, I think Soda was happier that either of us combined." Darry looked as if he were about to disagree. "Don't you go getting all sappy on me too," she teased. "You can't say anything along the lines of 'I don't think that anyone could be happier than me today'."

He laughed, the feeling vibrating in her chest. "I won't then." He was quiet. "But, that doesn't make it any less true."

"Am I the only one keeping up my tuff greaser nature?" she said with a playfully exasperated groan.

He laughed again. "You never had one."

"I'm tuff!" His laughter intensified as he wrapped his arms around her, tucking her head under his chin. "I am!" she insisted. "Dally said I was."

"That must mean it's true, you know how much Dally liked to tell the truth," he teased.

"Dally said I was a pretty tuff broad," she quoted.

"I'm sure. Dally also tried to fight every guy that looked at you for too long," Darry revealed.

"I'm tuff enough," she mumbled into his chest, pouting.

"Yes, you are," he said in an effort to placate her.

Jacquelyn decided to let it go, there was no point in arguing with him when he was right. She knew that the guys all treated her like a sister, for the most part. Soda had proven it by grabbing Russ' collar when he saw her changing and Steve had as well; after Soda told him he was ready to fight. Two-Bit had his own ways of showing it; she might have been the only woman in Tulsa whose skirt he hadn't flipped up in an effort to find out the color of her underwear, but that didn't stop him from playfully asking. Ponyboy was more subtle about it. Last week, her lunch had been packed and when she questioned the usual suspect, Darry, he knew nothing about it. Soda was too absent-minded to pack his own lunch and that only left Ponyboy, who when questioned turned a vicious shade of pink while mumbling something about not wanting her to have to rush and pack in the morning before running out of the door to go to work. Even Tim treated her as if had a soft spot for her.

"Hey."

"Yes?"

"Go ahead and tell me."

Darry exhaled through his nose in a soft huff. "I am very happy," he said, straying away from the words she'd demanded that he not use. "And it's hard to say that there is anyone in Tulsa that could be happier than I am."

Jacquelyn laughed. "I am the best thing that could have happened to you," she told him playfully.

"Don't get carried away," he told her.

Although if they were being completely honest, she was. She was the best person to have with him as he went to face this situation of losing a brother to the draft. She was the best person to have with him in general, Soda's draft aside. She was the best thing that ever happened to him.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hi there! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please leave a review and let me know if you did.

 **~ Nikki**


End file.
